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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




UN5TED STATES OF AMER6CA. 



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TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE PASTORATE 



Rev. John Pike 



Tfcowley, Mass., 



NOVEMBER 19, 22, 23, 1865 




SALEM: 



BALES! GAZETTE AND ESSEX COUNTY MERCURY PRESS. 



1865. 



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At a meeting of the Congregational Society, Rowley, Octo- 
ber 31st, 1835— Voted, that, in concurrence with our Pastor, we will 
celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pastorate in a manner 
which may be mutually agreeable and convenient. 

The following were chosen a general Committee:— Mr. Benjamin 
H. Smith, Deacons James T. Plumer, and Nathaniel Bradstreet,. 
Messrs. Nathaniel Cressy, Joseph Hale, J. Jewett Smith, D. Harris 
Hale, Richard C. Hale ; and Mrs. Plumer, Mrs. Proctor, Mrs. 
Blodgett, Mrs. Lydia Cressy, Mrs, Apphia Hale, Miss Mary G„ 
Lambert. 

Subsequently it was arranged that the usual Anniversary Service- 
should be in the Church, Sabbath, November 19th, — that there be- 
a public meeting in the same place Wednesday, November 22d, — 
and a social gathering of the people on the evening of the same day,, 
at the Town Hall ; and a meeting of the children at the house of the- 
Pastor, Thursday, November 23d. 



DISCOURSE, 

DELIVERED NOVEMBER 19, 1865, 

BY THE 

REV. JOHN PIKE. 



ACTS xxvi. 22. 
4< Having therefore obtained help op God, I continue 

UNTO THIS DAY." 

It is not surprising that the life of a minister should 
continue twenty-five years. Nice calculation has shown 
that his profession has no more hazards than other call- 
ings. The matter for surprise is, that he should continue 
during this period in one place, since most preachers 
begin to drift early, and do not cease changing, till death 
fastens them to a single spot. There are five hundred 
and eighty-six ministers in the Congregational Associa- 
tions of Massachusetts, while only twenty-three are said 
to be pastors of one flock a quarter of a century. The 
inference is natural, that Divine strength must have 
been given those who have remained firm during this 
drifting period, and that they not unwarrantably adopt 
the language of the Apostle : " Having therefore obtain- 
ed help of G-od, I continue unto this day." 

The subjects of my anniversary services have usually 
been suggested by something peculiar in our own situ- 
ation, or some marked changes in the nation or the 
world.* This twenty-fifth Anniversary Sabbath, and its 

*-It has been usual to observe my Anniversary, each year, by a 
special sermon, and the repetition of the hymns, tunes and anthem 
which were used on the day of my Installation. 



accompanying festal days suggest, The, permanence 
of the ministry. Perhaps it may be well to consider 
first, that it has been the favorite idea of the church of 
God; secondly, that it has been, of late, disowned and 
neglected for varied reasons : and thirdly, how it should 
be regarded by us, whose past associations are to be 
somewhat modified by present circumstances. 

First. — Permanence in the ministry has been the fa- 
vorite idea of the church of God. It has localized its 
ministers, as really as it has authorized them, and they 
are known by their places, as truly as by their names 
and office. Clement is minister of Rome, Polycarp of 
Smyrna, Cyprian of Carthage, Eusebius of Csesarea r 
Chrysostom of Constantinople, Athanasius of Alexan- 
dria, Augustine of Hippo, Calvin of Geneva; changing 
their positions perhaps for a time, when their own peace 
or that of the church was threatened; but glad to return 
when the tempest has passed, as the dove of Noah to 
her native horns of blossom and verdure. True, these 
are brilliant names, but really and truly indicate to you 
the fixedness of the lesser lights, as stars of the first 
magnitude indicate the almost changeless position of the 
myriad telescopic lights, which are too distant to attract 
the notice of most observers, or to make much of a fig- 
ure in the earthly history of stellar life. 

What is true of the Eastern world, is in a higher sense 
true of the Western. New England has often taken 
the extreme ground, that its early ministers were a part 
of the parish, as the member of a family is of his native 
home; and that they had no authority to .administer the 
ordinances of the gospel, beyond their own pastoral 
bounds. The reluctance to leave the churches and dis- 
miss the ministers in the time of general defection from 
the faith, did not arise from an ignorance of, or indiffer- 
ence to, the gospel. When Whitefield, Stillman, or Grif- 
fin preached, the people recognized their truths as those 



of their childhood, and rejoiced in their voice as that of 
the good Shepherd whose tones they knew. It was the 
deep feeling that a changing ministry was little to be 
depended upon; that it was better to leave even defec- 
tive pillars than hazard the building, which led many to 
hold by the churches, where they asked bread, but often 
received only a stone ; and induced such men as Dr. 
Emmons to exchange with ministers, who either neg- 
lected or trifled with the sentiments he so ably de- 
fended. The ministers of Rowley died among their 
people for more than a century and a half. The pastorate 
of Rogers was twenty-one years, that of Phillips forty- 
five, that of Shepard three, that of Pay son fifty, that of 
Jewett forty-five, and that of Bradford nineteen. This 
is only a sample of the early parishes, whose ministers 
grew to maturity from their first and only planting: 
falling like a shock of corn ripe in its season, into the 
grave, by the side of which, their hearers were nurtured 
to immortal life through the memory of their counsels, 
when their voices could be heard no more. 

The first time this parish was untrue to the general 
feeling for a permanent pastorate, was in the case of 
Mr. Tullar, in 1810. The contention was sharp to retain 
him ; to give him up, seemed to the church, like resign- 
ing one of its vested rights. He was by no means de- 
fective in intelligence or piety, though somewhat rough 
in his statements, selecting such passages of discourse r 
as the " nine and twenty knives " of the book of Ezra, and 
pointing them all to Christ. He was cut off, and the 
idea engrafted upon the church that the permanence of 
its pastors was henceforth to be a matter of expediency r 
rather than of right. 

It must not surprise us, that the change first intro- 
duced by the parish was soon acted upon by the minis- 
ter. Mr. Tucker remained Rve years with universal 
confidence and affection, and may have tended to a 



6 

change, as much from family, as personal feeling. The 
reply of Dr. Spring to Mrs. Tucker, when she sought 
his approval, is a striking illustration of New England 
feeling. " He has no more right," said he, " to leave his 
people in Rowley, than he has to leave you; it is an un- 
hallowed ambition that prompts to the change, and noth- 
ing else." This was certainly poor consolation to those 
who studied their duty in their tastes and feelings; but 
Dr. Spring was only repeating the wide-spread idea, 
that the pastoral relation was to be durable and sacred 
as the marriage contract.* 

Thus, was the idea of the bridal relation of the pastor 
and his flock held by the people of God in the old world, 
and in the new. It seemed to be second only in their 
view, to the connection of Christ and his church. Their 
ministers had one place of toil on earth, as they expect- 
ed to have one place of reward when that toil was 
over. 

Secondly. — The idea of ministerial permanence has 
lately been weakened, for various reasons. Puritan sen- 
timents have struggled with modern inventions, as the 
Minot Ledge light-house with the storm, often weak- 
ening, and in some cases overthrown. They were 
gained, and made a part of the religious heritage 
by pressing through difficulties, and, like all ideas 
that are born in a storm, were held with a firm grasp. 
The difficulties have ceased; the pastoral bond is easily 

* In Game's History of Rowley, the case seems to us, from all the 
information we have been able to obtain, to be presented too favor- 
ably for Mr.Tucker, and too little so for the people. The fact ap- 
pears to be, that he desired, during the embarrassments connected 
with the war, a permanent addition of two hundred dollars to his 
salary. The people offered to furnish the amount for the present 
diffi3u!tv, not to bind themselves for a future, in which no such 
difficulty 7 might exist. This point of permanence in the added sal- 
ary, and not anv indisposition to meet present emergencies, was 
that which divided him and the people, and terminated their con- 
nection in 1817. It was not one of those cases in which a parish 
takes the unenviable position of keeping its " voted salary *' lower 
than that of n nghboring societies of like ability, with the intention 
of supplying its place by what it is pleased to call gifts. 



formed, easily continued, and as easily dissolved; 
hence, the idea of permanence is^ little thought of, and 
little valued. The permanence of your own pulpit is 
as a headland amid beaches of drift. Eev. Mr. Camp- 
bell of Newburyport, Rev. Dr. Fitz of Ipswich, and 
Rev. Mr. Coggin of Boxford, are the only acting pastors 
in the stable county of Essex, that have survived the 
changes of twenty-five years. Many of the churches 
have their third or fourth pastor. There have been for- 
ty-one ordinations or installations within the bounds of 
the Essex North Association, during my pastorate, only 
two of which were made necessary by death. Other 
parts of the State have a much more shifting record 
than ours. 

Not long previous to my installation, the law which 
obliged every man to support the gospel, was repealed; 
its repeal was secured by the united efforts of extreme 
orthodoxy, and reckless infidelity. The opinion has 
been various, concerning the worth of the old law to our 
religious institutions. It may be, it has that kind of 
doubt that attaches to endowments and parish funds, 
which many think would be better swept away, and 
upon each generation, the responsibility rest of sustain- 
ing its poor, educating its young, and spreading its faith. 
This, however, is probable, that the repeal of the law r 
has made the support of the ministry less certain, and 
so contributed to that spirit of change to which, when 
imperfectly supported, it will always be prompted. 

Religious sects have been greatly multiplied and en- 
larged. Foremost among them is the Methodist, which 
starts with the theory that a changing- ministry is the 
most valuable. When Wesley framed his church, he 
found unintelligent and rough materials; the question 
was how he should make the best use of them for the 
spread of his sentiments, and no doubt he decided truly, 
that a single uncultivated mind would do more in twenty- 



five different places, than the same in one place, for a 
quarter of a century. In proportion as his church has 
increased in intelligence, it has been disposed to lengthen 
the stay of its clergymen with one people. It is cer- 
tain, however, that while rising and tending toward the 
Puritan idea of permanence, it has largely inoculated 
the world with its original theory, a theory which its 
after intelligent practice has, more or less, weakened. 
The Methodist and Baptist churches compare now, most 
favorably, with the Congregational in many places, in 
the use of a somewhat permanent pastorate. 

The type of modern society is at wide contrast with 
that of the generations which have passed away. Many 
are not satisfied with the simple utterances of the Gos- 
pel, after their taste has been formed by other instruc- 
tions than those of the Bible and Sanctuary. The age 
is certainly speculative in a remarkable degree ; the vic- 
tim of those varied false philosophies, which darken ev- 
ery subject they undertake to explain. Men go to the 
"Lecture-room" where strange subjects entrance them, 
and varied men inculcate those principles which require 
little thought, and whose acceptance conflicts with no 
inward propensity. The literature of the day abounds 
in every home, but it has not contributed to the perma- 
nence of that ministry, which comes "not in the words 
which man's wisdom," still less in those which his taste, 
" teacheth." The science of the day spreads itself be- 
fore the simplest minds, but has often weakened a min- 
istry, whose text book has little to do with the philosophy 
of the universe ; which states material changes without 
explaining them, and talks in plain and common language 
to plain and common men. The singer at your hall, a 
few evenings since, gave us the key note to the public 
indifference to pastoral continuance : he said he was 
ashamed of the worthless song he had sung, but it was 
the one which most quickly brought down the house. 



9 

If the picture which God gives of Ezekiel, could oftener 
be realized in the prophets of a modern congregation, 
" Lo thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one 
that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an in- 
strument," their hold would be more firm, and the oc. 
casion for installing them upon trucks, less constrain- 
ing. 

It has been sometimes said, that the rapid changes are 
to be attributed to a great change in the character of 
the ministry. Pastors are thought to be more ambitious 
than godly. The chances for ambition are a thousand 
times multiplied, and so it is not strange if the feeling, 
often latent, is more frequently exhibited, than in former 
days. In the earlier periods of New England, the church 
in Rowley was as marked as any, and its decisions came 
with as much authority to ministers and legislators ; but 
in the days of Mr. Tucker, it was overgrown by the 
churches of varied States, so that they probably 
worked upon his accomplished mind, and made him 
uneasy, till he had tried his fortune elsewhere. The 
churches rightly called "metropolitan," have been in- 
creasing ever since, and so the spirit naturally increases 
to move from the sphere where a man gathers little light 
from his surroundings, to those larger communities, 
where he is able to shine in other radiance than that 
which he personally emits. The style of preaching has 
certainly changed; but changing the form of truth is 
not necessarily losing it; the whole structure of ser- 
mons is altered, yet I do not know but there is as much 
doctrine and practice moulded into the several parts, 
as the old theologians secured of the one in the centre 
of a discourse, and of the other in its "improvement." 
Because preaching has less of theological discussion, it 
is not true that it has less of scriptural accuracy. The 
passages of Scripture are vastly fewer than they used 
to be in the pulpit, but what there are, will certainly be 



10 

found more clear to the purpose of the reasoner r and 
leave the hearer less disposed to depart from the truth, 
because of the weakness of the props which are employ- 
ed to support it.* The ministers of New England are cer- 
tainly not indifferent to the great gospel truths. The 
forms in which they use them ; the too popular air they 
sometimes endeavor to give them ; the larger space they 
allow to themes that are only as the flowering of the 
tree, to the root, trunk, and branches ; the fearfulness 
they often seem to have of those deeper tones which 
the Apostle uttered in the ninth of Romans, and which 
Edwards used when he startled the whole congregation 
with his ideas of " sinners in the hands of an angry 
God ".; may have had something to do with the abate- 
ment of that sympathy, with which the strongest and 
warmest believers welcomed an early ministry. There 
is nothing more surely foreign to a deep christian expe- 
rience, than the uncertain sound of the trumpet. The 
enthusiasm for Luther was due to his pointed utteran- 
ces unto those whom the Holy Ghost had awakened to a 
higher life. It is not probable that ministers have, to a 
great extent, changed their positions, because they are 
weary of the continued work, which permanence re- 
quires. Men now are not less studious than the fathers, 
who used to spend as many months in turning over their 
soil, as they did in turning over their thoughts. Rev. 
Mr. Braman told me, that he found by the sermons of 
his predecessor, that some of them had been preached 
seven times ; a record which Mr. Braman in his almost 
half century of toil, certainly could not -find upon his 

* Those familiar with what are commonly called " old sermons," 
know that with all the good proof texts, there were many which, 
however good in themselves, were worthless for the purpose to 
which they were put. The sayings of the Assembly's Catechism 
are unquestionably true, but wo be to them, if they are to depend 
for their support, upon many of the texts which the Westminster 
Confession cites. The old writers never seemed to understand, that 
one "thussaith the Lord," is better than ten thousand sayings 
which He is made to utter. 



11 

own. Rev. Dr. Withington told me that his mother 
used to say her old pastor preached one of his favorite 
sermons, for a long time, every three months, sufficiently 
often, to say the least, to prevent its being forgotten, 
Indolence belongs no more to modern, than to ancient 
life. The student, like the poet, is born for ceaseless 
activity, and is the product of every age ; while the 
mental sluggard is as truly so, amid the long Sabbath 
sermons of early periods, or the more frequent sermons, 
lectures, and articles for the press, which mark modern 
society. Nor is self denial peculiar to our early minis- 
ters. The shady sides of modern, as well as ancient 
life, start the instinct of self preservation so much, that 
the principle of sacrifice loses its power. Men have 
moved, in order to live ; if they have not the faculty to 
cut the cloak according to the cloth, they must go 
where a wider margin is offered. A gentleman whose 
knowledge of life was accurate, advised a church to send 
for Dr. Dwight as its candidate, since he had all the ac- 
complishments they desired, and had been long enough 
in heaven to learn to live on faith. 

The spirit of change has sometimes been traced to 
political excitement. No doubt it has contributed to 
change, but mainly, because like all other excitements, 
it has gone beyond its appropriate limits. It is very 
difficult to conceive how sermons can have the gos- 
pel hue, if they are not colored by political changes. 
The field of politics overlaps that of religion ; the 
question of regicide, was with Dr. South, a religious 
question ; hence, he seldom preached a sermon which 
was not bitter in its attacks upon Cromwell and his co- 
adjutors. The connection of the Church and State was 
with the Puritans, a religious question, and so their pul- 
pits often told the story, that Christ was the sole guide 
of the church, and that earthly rulers could not over- 
rule the conscience of its members. The policy that 



12 

brought on the war of 1812, was with many of the New 
England people a religious matter, and so Dr. Emmons 
told his people that Jefferson was the "Jereboam" that 
made the people of Israel to sin. The question of free- 
dom, and the prosperity of this nation's life, was a re- 
ligious question : and so there has been an unbounded 
zeal to proclaim the truth, that God has " made of one 
blood all nations of men," and that he has committed the 
sword to the chief magistrate as a shield to the good, 
and a terror to the evil. The clergyman is a politician, 
because he is a religionist ; he does not electioneer, but 
simply defends the principles that underlie his gospel. 
The pilgrim preachers were the most bitter politicians 
the world ever saw, because they regarded the whole 
political management of the world as opposed to Christ.* 
If men were perfect automatons, indifferent spectators 
of a by-gone age, they would make the pulpit as barren 
of stirring religious thought, as the desert is of verdure. 
The pilgrims were fixtures, though abundant in their 
complaints of the ordering of society ; their descend- 
ants cannot be transient, merely because they have 
taken up their mantle. The honest truth is, that the 
world means to be separated from God, that govern- 

*Ezekiel Rogers, the first minister of Rowley, departed so far 
from what is commonly called the gospel, that in the Election Ser- 
mon which Cotton Mather said made him "famous through the 
whole country" he "vehemently exhorted his hearers never to 
choose the same man Governor for two successive years.'" This 
seemed to him an appropriate application of the gospel and one 
which he could not refuse to make, without losing his claim to be 
an independent and faithful expounder of the " counsel of God." 
So, probably, it seemed to him appropriate to tell the Legislative 
Committee, that he should go home and consult .his elders, and de- 
termine whether it was best to yield to a law it was proposed to 
pass. Rogers was a radical, a higher law man. I do not so much 
wonder that he started Rowley, New England, with " radicalism " 
and the " higher law," when the " lower law " had swept so tem- 
pest-like around his old home in Rowley, England ; and made him 
like Noah's dove, which " found no rest for the sole of her foot." 
The clergymen of Rowle}^, so far as we can discover, have gener- 
ally been a happy combination of the conservative and the reform- 
er ■ too much of the first to dream away life upon vanities, and too 
much of the second, foolishly to destroy themselves and others, by 
the effort to stand still, amid the rush of modern changes. 



13 

ment does not wish to be ordered by religion, that men 
choose rather to trust to their own expedients, than to 
the lessons of right. 

When I first settled among yon, the political strength 
was employed upon the question, whether dram-drink- 
ing should be allowed in this town, then somewhat no- 
torious for its topers. Later in my ministry, the politi- 
cal question was whether Papacy or Protestantism 
should rule the land. More recently, the amazing ques- 
tion has been whether all men have rights from the very 
fact that they are made by God, and whether a nation 
like this, shall keep its place, and shine like a polar star 
of direction to the world, or like Lucifer, fall from heaven. 
The American arrangements of society, like these I have 
mentioned, are not simply political, but politico-religious, 
and therefore suitably attract the attention of those 
who would open to the world the whole " counsel of 
God." 

Such are some of the reasons that may be given for 
the clear fact that the pastoral tie has become so enfee- 
bled. Some of them are real, and some imaginary. 
The whole may be resolved into the change of society 
from a permanent to a transient, restless, moving spirit. 
The " frontier life " has shown that as soon as it ceases 
to be difficult to scatter, it begins to be hard to preserve 
the ideas of the early settlers of the country. When 
the ties that bind men to their fellows, are little stronger 
than simple contiguity, the tie that binds them to their 
pastor will be as feeble as human convenience can de- 
vise. As the spirit of individualism, independence, and 
self-reliance, has been growing, there has naturally risen 
a great carelessness of antecedents, and general max- 
ims, whether originating in the church, or given by its 
God. 

Thirdly. — How is the idea of permanence in the min- 
istry to be hereafter regarded by us ? Certainly not 



14 

in the same way it was by the fathers. It is to no pur- 
pose to fight against time ; years are no more certainly 
passing, than are passing the forms in which society 
displays itself. The stage coach is out of place, where 
the rail car can run, and the canal boat well stands still, 
where steam can ply, and the people can ill abide the 
slow despatches of the mail, when the telegraph wire 
is fast surrounding the world. Colleges and Theologi- 
cal Seminaries are multiplying, whose places of vast re- 
sponsibility, the young graduate is not qualified to fill. 
Dr. Spring was obliged to act contrary to his sayings 
concerning Mr. Tucker, when Andover Theological 
Seminary was established, and told Dr. Woods and Mr. 
Stuart that they must break the marriage contract. It 
would be fatal to the hopes of clergymen and their so- 
cieties, to obligate the bond, when the great ends of it 
are not being answered. The churches and parishes of 
the land are constantly changing, and there may often 
be necessitated a change in those who are to act as 
their guides. 

The idea, however, must be kept. Theories cannot 
always be practical, but the practice will be more mis- 
erable, when the correct theory is abandoned. The care 
for life may sometimes be overpowered by the love of a 
nation or a world, but the abandonment of the principle 
that the great duty of every one is to protect, and con- 
tinue his life, would make communities utterly unsafe. 
This permanence of the ministry, is a legacy from the 
Puritan fathers, which they received from those men, 
" of whom the world was not worthy." 

The ministry will feel the loss, as the legacy wastes. 
It is probable that its influence generally depreciates, 
as its spirit for change increases. No one can help feel- 
ing that Drs. Emmons and Burton were much indebted 
to their permanence, for that power which kept the el- 
ements of their parish in subservience to its religious 



15 

growth. The churches of Franklin and Thetford, never 
could have presented their strong and intelligent piety, 
had they been subject to the change of teachers, which 
modern societies require. These ordinations and in- 
stallations are sinking into a mere farce, while we in- 
dulge the idea that the bond which is formed, is but little 
more sacred than that which connects the slaves, which 
every whim of the plantation may disturb. The man 
who is most successful in the pulpit is one, who for 
years, has studied his hearers, while he who most sym- 
pathetically ministers at the sick bed and the grave, 
will be one who from the happy companionship of years, 
is able to say, " Yea, and if I be offered upon the sac- 
rifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with 
you all ; for the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice 
with me." Therefore the ancient sentiment must be 
cherished by that, ministry which has often overrated 
the value of a change, and should begin to consider that 
the smaller sphere has its larger surroundings, and that 
the city becomes what it is, because the tides of intel- 
lectual and moral life are pouring in through the multi- 
plied channels that are opening to every rural home.* 
Societies must cherish the sentiment, overcome the dif- 
ficulties which make themselves and pastors restive, and 
begin to think whether any can train the children so 
well, as those who have trained the parents to be hon- 
orable in life, and calm in view of death. 

Thus, let the ideas of permanence be maintained in 

*The motive of increased and increasing usefulness is certainly 
good. Perhaps, however, it has been overrated. It has proved 
delusive in the case of many a man who "found no place of re- 
pentance, though he sought" it carefully with tears/' The appro- 
priate level of personal influence is often reached, without the at- 
tempt to "go up higher." The beauty of the statue does not depend 
upon its higher, or lower pedestal. Its lines of life speak for them- 
selves. We certainly do not go against all change, from the smaller 
to the larger places, but have been convinced, by a somewhat long 
observation, that when God says "well enough," men had better 
"let it alone." This conviction has been strengthened by the tes- 
timony of those, who have realized in experience, what we have 
only known from observation. 



16 

New England's long future. Let it be fresh ; the grand 
old idea, made immortal, not by the constant preaching 
of the sons of the pilgrims, but by those mighty minds, 
pure hearts, and strong societies, which permanent pas- 
torates foster. In a shifting age like this, when every 
thing is on the move, it will cost a struggle to make our 
pastors, in any appropriate sense, moveless. Let the 
genius of our Puritan system, however, be constantly 
in mind. Puritanism and Methodism are at opposite 
poles, but c'ome nearer together as the intelligence of 
the first pervades the last. Puritanism starts with 
highly educated men, whose permanence will not ex- 
haust but increase their treasures. Hence, one of its 
most cherished ideas has been, that its ministers must 
take a portion of the spiritual field, and feeling that the 
harvest for eternity is to be found there, must lay their 
plans, train their laborers, and spend their strength, 
so that in a course of years, the yield shall be larger 
than any temporary expedients will allow. To attempt 
to graft upon our New England system the scion of a 
shifting ministry, is to endanger both the scion and the 
system. As a tree in its first life has a root, which de- 
termines its character ever afterward, though it may be 
grafted and cultivated, so every form of religion has 
certain elements which ought not to be departed from 
for slight causes. One element of the Puritan form is 
stability, through which it has already grown the most 
eminent men, and the strongest societies. Time may 
force many things upon the descendants of the Pilgrims, 
but if they forget the original element from which their 
religious strength has come, they may find, when too 
late, that the "lock" of their power is gone, and that 
they awake out of their sleep, to see that " the Lord is 
departed/' 

It is under the influence of ideas such as I have new 
stated, that we have reached the twenty-fifth anniver- 



17 

sary of our union. Not that we have contemplated often 
these sentiments, or spent much time in persuading 
ourselves that we ought to be more firmly one on this 
twenty-fifth year than the first. It has been rather a Pu- 
ritan instinct, which has worked its results with but 
little care from us ! This is the first time 1 have preach- 
ed on the subject of a permanent ministry, and probably 
it will be the last. It would certainly be the last, if I 
thought the sentiment less fondly cherished by you, 
than myself. The best preaching for a restive congre- 
gation is for its minister to pack up his goods, and ad- 
vertise his house, if in restive congregations there is 
any such thing as a ministerial dwelling. This kind of 
preaching you have never needed. As nature silently 
carries along its plant to its full strength, so we have 
grown to our complete union ; the root deepening and 
spreading, as the softened earth invited it ; the branches 
leafing, flowering, and fruiting, as the kindly air breathed 
upon them. We have each known our spheres, and 
because we have been true to them, this twenty-fifth 
anniversary has been reached. I have trusted you, and 
you, with equal cheerfulness, have trusted me. I have 
been independent ; but it has been in my own province, 
not in yours. The officer may be ever so independent, 
without criticism, upon his own ground; but he must 
not cross the soldier on guard without giving the pass- 
word which that soldier has been authorized to keep, 
unless he expects to be shot. In all that has concerned 
the care of your souls ; the kind of preaching and train- 
ing that you needed, and that the world needed, in order 
to meet with God's acceptance, I have been fully inde- 
pendent of your opinions and feelings, as I am to be 
independent in my future account. If it has cost me a 
struggle, it has saved my conscience; and enables me 
to say that " I have kept back nothing profitable to you," 
because of that sensitiveness, on the part of many, which 
3 



18 

prefers the sore, to the knife that probes it. If I have 
wanted anything, I have used the delicate language of 
Paul, saying, "Achaia icas ready a year ago" and " when- 
soever I take my journey into Spain I will come to you : 
for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought 
on my way thitherward by you;" and you have under- 
stood the allusion sufficiently, to meet the want. And 
when have you found me untrue to your equally delicate 
suggestions ? Who has found me ruffled when he has 
stated kindly his difficulties with any of my arrange- 
ments ? Who has not received my most hearty thanks, 
when pointing to any way of usefulness which he sup- 
posed had slipped my notice? Who has not been wel- 
comed to my home, in season, and out of season, to lay 
open his griefs, and who has not found them attended 
to, if they could be, without making me indifferent to 
the claims of the higher Master? What real want of 
this parish has there been, to which my heart and my 
purse, when it had any thing in it, have not responded ? 
Thus, our mutual offices of toil and of trust have been 
filled : each knowing his place, and each conceding to 
the other, the rights which that place might claim. This 
true Christian policy has been the channel, in which the 
help of God has flowed, by means of which " I continue 
unto this day." 

The idea that this pastorate would last twenty-five 
years, might on the morning of my installation, have 
seemed a dream. There was nothing very promising 
in its beginning : you were just rising from the shock r 
which the sundering- of a previous pastoral tie occa- 
sioned, and were split up into very irreligious sects, 
some clinging to the setting light, and some welcoming 
that which was just beginning to dawn, and both, prob- 
ably, having more will than godliness ! The thing that- 
saved you, may have been taking your first candidate : 
but what saved him in the furnace which varied con- 



19 

tending elements were seven times heating, I know not* 
I was bnt a child. One of the Baptist congregation 
said, that " he came to your installation expecting to 
see a man, but only found a boy." It was in happy 
correspondence with this opinion, that you had my early 
text, " I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in 
much trembling/' I trembled for myself: then troubled 
with great infirmity of sight, and with such diseased 
organs of utterance, that I could have little hopes of 
the tones of Bradford, which used to startle you, or 
the more delicate ones of Tucker which used to en- 
trance you ; and such a cast of mind that I knew I never 
could submit, for a single moment, to the neglectful pol- 
icy, with which the ministry is sometimes treated. I 
trembled for you, who would have to unlearn many of 
the lessons you had learned, to bear and forbear, sub- 
mit your judgment to that of a youth, and listen 
when there Avas not much of anything to hear, and 
fan the feeble sparks into a flame, when you wished the 
earlier sermons to seem anything to yourselves and 
your community. I trembled for the old tabernacle ; 
that crazy thing with which the wind and the storms 
were trifling, venerable for the purposes it had answered, 
but worthless for a society that modern comforts had 
begun to influence; full of squares, aisles, doors, and 
windows, and with a pulpit hung between earth and 
heaven; yet a tabernacle, as one could almost foresee, 
that would make great havoc with the pastoral tie when 
it fell in pieces. It was in the second year of my min- 
istry that you came up to this spot, where, for months, 
I felt undecided whether you would be true to your 
honorable history, or perpetuate a feud that seemed 
likely to be your ruin. Happily, the pulpit attracted 
all parties, and the pastoral bond survived a hazard, 
which it does not usually outlive ; while your ammu- 
nition was used upon yourselves, and the spent balls, 



20 

alone, suffered to reach me.* The private difficul- 
ties of my ministry, which ordinarily, interfere with 
permanence, have been exceedingly few, and have 
generally passed away with the proper understanding 
of the causes which have given rise to them. The 
deaths of my early and strong friends, have sometimes 
made me feel that I wanted to quit the places where the 
void was easily recognized and deeply felt. I have at- 
tended four hundred funerals ; some for the choicest 
pillars of this church and society ; some for its deacons 
and its singers ; many for those who sustained us by 
prayer, or were our financial guides ; and some for 
those whose matronly care has always made their house 
a welcome resort to their minister. The emotions that 
stifle the utterance of their names, will allow me no 
particular allusion to those with whom " I took sweet 
counsel, and walked unto the house of God in company," 
and who have spent their life in laboring, and their 
death in praying that this society may complete its his- 
tory, with the same honor with which it was commenced. 
How alone a man feels, even amid the memories of only 
twenty-five years ! Only three of the ministers who 
assisted to install me, survive. The majority of my first 
auditors, have gone into eternity, and the church and 
society are emphatically new. 

But there is a brighter side. A valuable portion of 

* The contest respecting the old church, began in the summer of 
1841, and the corner stone of the new, was laid in the fall of 1842. 
The best men in my parish were arrayed against each other, sim- 
ply upon the point where it should be located. The party for the 
old spot, had the advantage of association, it having been the mem- 
orable place of the church for two hundred years, while the other 
party had the advantage, probably, of greater convenience to the 
majority of the parish. Each fought it out on " his own line,' r 
sometimes with godly weapons, sometimes with those not so godly, 
and had good sense enough not to wish me to lead in either direc- 
tion. The thing I wanted was a respectable meetinghouse ; that, I 
certainly have. The tempest around the old and the new spots, I 
was deeply sorry for, but devoutly thankful that it swept only a 
single fam'ilv from its long moorings. The new meeting house was 
dedicated Julv, 1842. 



21 

the old element still lives ; and the new element shapes 
itself according to the form and hue of the old. The 
children who have succeeded the dead, have most of them 
entered into the sympathy which their parents had with 
every thing that might contribute to keep this society 
and its minister respectable and respected. If I have 
attended so many funerals, it has generally been the 
case that each tone of the prayer has gathered about 
me the afflicted, in as close devotion as the dead once 
cherished, but can no longer express. I have helped 
you in your festal gatherings, solemnized one hundred 
and ten marriages, brightened the early hours of your 
new homes, welcomed, and sometimes baptised your 
children as they came upon the stage of life ! Your 
rural home has been delightful; and if it seems to 
many, like a patch of salt marsh by the side of the sea r 
the everlasting ocean feeds it, whose music is more 
captivating than the noise of busy streets, and whose 
shores furnish gems of thought, which massive build- 
ings, and crowded marts would deny. Then it has been 
a home close by that of my childhood,, near the graves 
of those whose dust is precious, in close contact with 
the play grounds of my youth ; and those companions, 
who having grown with my growth, have never lost 
their freshness. It is, also, a place, that has more 
worth in it than first appears ; more of real, scriptural,, 
and earthly intelligence ; more of true hearted piety ; 
more of young men who, with suitable encouragement 
and instrnction, are fitted for the important places of 
business and education, and of young women whose 
powers might fit them for larger spheres, than those in 
which they were born ; more of the old pastoral love 
which frequently makes the table comfortable by gifts 
from the dairy and the stall, and the house attractive, by 
the handy-work which its visitants may leave. Then 
Providence gave me a house of my own, early in my 



22 

ministry, whose trees, walks, and furniture, you liberally 
supplied, and surrounded me with friends who were al- 
ways advising me to stand by my first settlement ; such 
as my much loved classmate, Rev. Dr. Harris, who was 
one of the most powerful preachers upon the worth of 
permanence, and one of the swiftest to contradict his 
preaching by his practice.* There has been much that 
has contributed to my purpose to stay among you ; 
the valuable choir of singers, who have so long been 
steady at their posts, taking up, and uttering delicately, 
but forcibly, the truths of the sermon and the prayer, 
and the uncommon care of those to whom this church 
has been committed, to have every thing so comforta- 
ble, that the mind of both preacher and hearer, should 
not be needlessly attracted from the message of God. 
Add to all these, God's spiritual favors ; the cheering 
revivals of 1843,-47,-50,-54,-57,-58 ; the fact that one 
hundred and eighty-four members have been received 
by me into the church, and you will see that there have 
been strong causes to detain, whatever may have been 
the incentives which, occasionally, have prompted me 
to leave. 

These years have been toilsome. It is seldom that the 
pulpit-help is found here, which is common in other pla- 

*This allusion is due to an incident in our mutual history. Dr. 
Harris happened to come to my house at a time when I had a 
somewhat pressing invitation to leave Rowley, which was submit- 
ted to his judgment, so much better than my own. His warning 
voice I shall never forget. I began to think that there were no 
places in this world, but Conway and Rowley, that every bush, 
in both of them, was like that which Moses saw upon Horeb, flam- 
ing with the Lord, yet never to be consumed, that there were no 
dwellings over which "Home, sweet Home" could be so appro- 
priately sung, as over that which he had parted with among the 
mountains, and which I was still possessed of by the side of the 
sea. There is no man whose practice more generally conforms 
with his excellent preaching, than that of my long-tried friend. 
He made a mistake when he went from Conway to Pittsfield, but 
did not make a mistake when he went from Pittsfield to Bangor. 
Let him now remember his old saying, that "a man is not bound 
to reconsider the question of influence when a great influence is 
already secured," and not be charmed by greater anticipated good 
from a position whose amazing power for the welfare of men ought 
to satisfy, even so commanding a mind as his. 



23 

ces, while a more careless style of* preparation than 
they allow, would seem hardly pardonable to you, if it 
would be to myself. The habit of preaching at home 
from the first of December to the first of May, has im- 
posed a labor, which could not rightly be avoided, and 
which the extempore service of Sabbath morning has 
often increased, rather than diminished. I have usually 
conducted a meeting on Sabbath and Wednesday eve- 
ning, occasionally, a weekly lecture and Bible class. 
It has been my custom to visit every family in the par- 
ish, twice during the year, to talk with the parents and 
their children concerning the things of the Kingdom, 
to make them feel that our church and society was their 
own, and that they must be steady in their attendance 
upon the sanctuary, that the joy and comfort of the 
spiritual household might be complete. Those of your 
sick, who have been nearing the grave, I have visited 
very often, directing them how they might happily pass 
into the presence of their Judge, while the afflicted I 
have often seen, to try and make them realize that " af- 
fliction cometh not forth of the dust", and that "all 
things work together for good to them that love God.'' 
Frequently, I have been called for services in neigh- 
boring places that were without a pastor, and to those 
public labors, which occasionally require the atten- 
tion of every minister. During these twenty-five years r 
I have, probably, been detained from my pulpit by sick- 
ness, not more than ten sabbaths. In the earlier parts 
of my ministry, I had no appointed vacation, while in 
the later, I have seldom taken all the time that your 
parish arrangements allotted me. 

It is proper on this occasion, that I should gratefully 
remember the attention and respect, with which I have 
been treated by the people of our village ! The older 
people knew me to be inexperienced, but the venerable 
Deacon Jewett was a representative of them all, who, if 



24 

they knew that grey hairs indicated wisdom, were ready, 
delicately, to acknowledge that it was a wisdom which 
youth might sometimes guide and perfect. The young 
men have appreciated my interest in them ; shown it 
by the cordial greeting they have always given me in 
the shops and streets : truly felt that I was one with 
them, in all that could make thought more elevated and 
feeling more pure, and sometimes controverted their 
own arrangements, in order to meet some religious ob- 
ject upon which my heart was fixed.* The young- 
ladies of my congregation have always been ready to 
carry out the plans which they could happily execute, 
been glad, often, to take the religious counsels, and hav- 
ing felt their force, give them to those who sympa- 
thise with their hearts more warmly than they could 
with mine. The children deserve my most tender no- 
tice on this occasion, who have never known another 
pastor, who have given me such attention in the streets 
and at their homes ; who seem, truly, to have loved me 
as I have truly loved them ; who have listened so cordial- 
ly to me in the Sabbath school and the church, and who 
are soon to form the main part of my congregation. 
It has been a scene of very general regard, in which I 
have been placed. My brother, the much loved pastor 
of the Baptist church, said that he used to keep a writ- 
ten account of the varied presents which his people 
gave him.f I am sure it would have taken too much 

* An instance of this kind occurred in 1850. It was when the en- 
thusiasm for Lyceum debates and addresses was at the highest 
pitch. It was exceedingly gratifying when one of the number, 
most deeply interested, came to say, that, though they had no sug- 
gestion it was my desire, they were happy to adjourn their meet- 
ing, to attend a religious service, I had appointed. The intellectual 
and material pursuits of the town may be of great value, but it 
will be no injury to have them detained occasionally, that the spir- 
itual culture may be made sure. It was the saying of one of my 
congregation at that time, that his business never suffered, by leav- 
ing it for the evening meeting. There is more truth than poetry in 
his saying, though few are willing to test it, and perhaps he, him- 
self, may have forgotten it. 

t Rev. Cephas Pasco, a man, whose worth can hardly be over-es- 
timated. For several years we lived together in the most perfect 



25 

time to have recorded your gifts. The individual diffi- 
culties to which any decided ministry will give rise, 
have usually been transient as the morning cloud. You 
have gone away from many of my sermons, not pleased, 
often irritated, full of talk for the week, upon my want 
of wisdom ; but the next Sabbath has found you in the 
house of God, as calm as before the tempest swept 
across you, and as candid to hear, as if you had never 
found a prejudice to overcome. One prominent man of 
my congregation has been, in most cases, a model of all 
who have been offended at my pastoral services. His 
language to me Avas severe, and I waited patiently and 
let it come, thinking it was the best relief for the vol- 
canic struggle ; and when it was all poured out, I told 
him that I never was used to quarrelling, that it would 
have to be all on one side, and that the probability was, 
he would find it a hard bargain to have all the fault-find- 
ing to do, with none returned, out of which he could 
make capital for a fresh attack. He came to my house 
the next week with a valuable present, and was one of 
my firmest friends ever afterward. The occasion of in- 
dividual difficulties is often such, that no man can avoid 
them, or such that no man in his right mind ought to 
wish to avoid them. Christianity is a sword ; the word 
of God pierces to " the dividing asunder of the joints 
and marrow." Sermons which finally commend them- 
selves to your best judgment and feelings, are not so 
little positive as to occasion no remark or be followed 
with simply approbatory sayings. 

Hearers — the festal services of the coming week 

harmony ; mutually interested in each other, and cordially joined 
for the welfare of the town. He used to come to me, to suggest 
anything that would promote the interest of my parish, while, with 
the same freedom, my suggestions were made for the benefit of his 
own, We were both as strong in our own sentiments, as need be ; 
but loved each other as warmly, and planned for each other as cor- 
dially, as though we had no sentiments peculiar to ourselves. Row- 
ley lost in his removal, a model gentleman, scholar, christian, and 
pastor. 



26 

make it less needful for me to lengthen these remarks. 
You have chosen a way to express your feelings, ex- 
ceedingly grateful to me, and honorable in the eyes of 
a community, more or less interested in your minister. 
The special presence of the Holy Grhost,and the voices 
from above recovering you to God, which seem to say 
that " with me he is well pleased/' could only make me 
happier than these proposed public testimonials. Our 
Society, like many rural ones, may suffer, when business 
tends so strongly to the great centres. That man is of 
little account who makes these changes the cause of 
complaint that things are running down, and who does 
not find in them the occasion of greater personal enthu- 
siasm ; while he is to be greatly honored, who never 
desponds, who increases his toil, as he thinks the num- 
bers of the enterprising decrease, who waits with faith, 
for the period when those Avho have gone out, shall 
send back their sympathies and treasures, to feed the 
life their absence has weakened, who is glad to have 
his name go into the history of his religious society, 
with the matchless compliment which the Saviour gave 
the woman in the presence of the complaining spirits 
of his time — u She hath done what she could/' The 
past brings its hallowed memories ; its departed objects 
of trust and affection we may not recall. The "great 
cloud of witnesses " is over me. The hands of my ven- 
erated deacons, one* of whom passed triumphantly away 
in the earlier periods of my ministry, and the otherf just 
gone up, his " hoary head a crown of glory," seem still 
stretched out over their once youthful pastor, while the 
many men and women who have risen to their side, re- 
joice with them, that the bond they helped to form, the 
wear and tear of years have not broken. Venerable 
company, " the chariots of Israel and the horsemen there- 

* Nathaniel Mighill died August 3, 1845, aged 45. 
f Joshua Jewett died January 3, 1862, aged 94. 



27 

of," — if too unworthy to reach you, perhaps I have con- 
tributed somewhat to the splendor with which you 
shine, and the sweetness with which you chant your 
choral song. I turn from you to my earthly trust, which 
now commences its twenty-sixth year. I hold the pas- 
toral relation, in the same balanced form I have always 
held it, knowing no reason now why it should not pass 
happily along from its silver toward its golden period, 
I have no ambition, but to approve myself to God, and 
to be useful to the people over whom He has placed 
me. 

The years are flying! Ere another quarter of a cen- 
tury is gone, where shall we be? Who then will be 
living, that helped to form this pastoral bond? Who 
then shall minister in this pulpit? Where shall we be, 
when children now unborn, shall be the largest element 
in this congregation ? God only knows, and with Him 
we cheerfully leave the questions. Only let us conse- 
crate ourselves to each other, and cast from our sym- 
pathies all who would rudely waste this pastoral con- 
nexion. Let mutual charity prevail, and confidence, 
the growth of twenty-five years, never be suffered to 
wither from things, that may occasionally, strike it un- 
favorably. True to ourselves, our God and our Saviour; 
true to this church and society ; true to the village 
which shall henceforth be honored for its quarter of a 
century pastoral connexion ; true to the country from 
which the rebellious cloud has vanished, and which is 
to rise, as the world rises from the summer tempest 
with its bow of promise, clear atmosphere, and bright 
sky ; true to the world which Jesus has redeemed by his 
blood, and which is ere long to shine in millennial glory, 
we shall either stand here at the next quarter of a cen- 
tury, like a shock of corn ripe in its season, or stand 
yonder among those who have washed their robes, and 
" made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 



Wednesday, November 22. 



It was not without some anxiety, that the good people of 
Rowley looked forward to this day. The thoughts and feelings 
often rely for their happy flow, upon a grateful, outward 
scene. Tuesday did not promise much : the storm was probably, 
the most violent of the year, and its severity was the only token 
that it would be exhausted before the next morning dawned. 
It continued late into the night, so that those who were making 
preparations for the comfort of our guests, began to think that 
ministers who ever expect quarter of a century celebrations, 
had better not be ordained near the close of the month of No- 
vember. The morning chased away the anticipations of the 
night ; the clouds rolled toward the eastward again ; the sun 
shone ; the guests came successively along ; the activity that 
seemed paralyzed Tuesday began to show itself, and everything 
indicated that heaven, as well as earth, was disposed to make 
for us a happy commemorative day. 

The services commenced at the Church fifteen minutes before 
ebven o'clock, with an anthem by the choir, " Let every heart 
rejoice and sing," under the direction of Mr. Joseph Hale. 
At the conclusion of the singing, Mr. Benjamin H. Smith 
invited Rev. Mr. Coggin of Boxford, to act as Chairman during 
the public services. Mr. Coggin took the chair, and requested 
Rev. Mr. Foster of West Newbury, to offer prayer. 

ADDRESS OF REV. MR. COGGIN. 

It affords me much pleasure to occupy the chair on this rare 
and interesting occasion. For this honor, I suppose I am some- 
what indebted to the fact that my friend and brother, the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of whose pastorate we now celebrate, performed 
the same office for me on a similar occasion. 



30 

Although I cannot expect to preside as gracefully as did he, 
yet I think I can with the same cordiality. I rejoice with him 
that he is permitted to see this day ; he has my warmest sym- 
pathies, and I would cheerfully do all in my power to contribute 
to the interest of the occasion. 

An entire generation has passed away since I first became 
acquainted with the fortunate pastor of this flock. That ac- 
quaintance commenced at the Theological Seminary, Andover, 
which we, at the same time, entered. It was not, however, 
then and there so intimate, as it has been since. As we came 
from different Colleges, it was natural that we both should be 
inclined, at first, to look for sympathy and companionship to 
those with whom we had been closely associated during the four 
previous years. But, since I entered upon my ministerial field 
of labor, there has been no one with whom I have had more 
frequent, delightful, and profitable ministerial, christian, and 
social intercourse. 

My brother is one of those who do not immediately exhibit 
all their good qualities ; he does not strike twelve at once ; it 
requires time folly to understand and appreciate him. In this 
view I do not wonder that he has remained in this field so long, 
and that he has been steadily gaining upon the confidence and 
affections of his people ; so that his influence was probably 
never greater than at the present time. 

Had he been ambitious of occupying a larger field, without 
doubt his ambition could have been gratified, but he has been 
contented here, because God has been with him and has blessed 
him ; and that blessing has been regarded by him of far more 
value than greater fame or greater emolument. 

If he had consulted his ease, he would have exchanged his 
field of labor ; for then he could more fully have made use of 
his former productions. But ease was not what he sought ; 
and therefore he has continued in the same field so long, faith- 
fully and successfully laboring, and bringing forth, year after 
year, things new out of his treasures. 

In his preparatory course, and in the early days of his min- 
istry, my brother had obstacles and discouragements to contend 
with, to which few are subjected. At the close of his College 
life, he could not use his eyes even to write his own name with- 
out severe pain. Throughout his theological course of study, 
he was obliged to employ some one to read to him, and to act 
as an amanuensis. After he left the Theological Seminary, he 
was subjected to a new cause of discouragement ; he was afflicted 
with a bronchial difficulty ; and had he listened to medical ad- 
vice, he probably would never have entered upon the work of 
the ministry. His love for that work was, however, too great 



31 

to allow any obstacles to prevent him from engaging in it, with- 
out doing everything in his power to overcome them. At length, 
by care, and through the blessing of God, these obstacles were 
so far removed that he felt justified in settling in the ministry. 
Yet, even then, for the first few years, it was necessary that he 
should have some one to read and write for him. ' For- 
tunately, he found one who was peculiarly fitted for this office — 
one who has been a ** help meet for him " in more respects than 
one. By her sympathy and co-operation, she has cheered her 
husband, made his home happy, lightened his work, and con- 
tributed much to his success, like Deborah of old who rendered 
such important service to Israel. 

That which I have spoken of as an obstacle and source of 
discouragement to my brother in preparing himself for his work, 
I have sometimes thought was, after all, but a mercy in disguise. 
Under the direction of Providence, it probably resulted in his 
benefit, and the better prepared him for his work. As he could 
use his eyes only to a limited extent, the outward world was in 
a measure, shut out from his mind, his thoughts became intro- 
verted, he was more accustomed to reflection ; and thus those 
habits of abstraction and concentrativeness were formed, which 
have been of great service to him, and have enabled him to 
write, and prepare himself for the pulpit and other occasions, 
with an unusual facility, such as few possess. 

I cannot better express my desire for the continued prosper- 
ity, usefulness, and happiness of this honored couple, than by 
the wish that the future of their lives may correspond with the 
past. May they tarry in this pleasant field for years to come, 
laboring, as they have done, among a united, grateful, and ap- 
preciative people, and with the smile of Heaven continually 
upon them ! Long may it be ere the home, which has been so 
attractive to us all, shall be made desolate by the great destroy- 
er ! But when, at length, this happy relation between pastor 
and people, shall be sundered, as all earthly ties must, and these 
dear friends shall close their eyes on the scenes of this world, 
may they sleep here with their people, mingling their dust with 
that of the flock, and on the morn of the resurrection awake 
with them to life everlasting, and enter upon that blissful state, 
where, "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the fir- 
mament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the 
stars, forever and ever "! 

It must be a source of high gratification to my brother to have 
with him to-day so many acquaintances, friends and relatives, 
interested in this occassion, and rejoicing with him. Among 
them, I am happy to see one upon whom the hand of time has 
pressed very lightly, and with whom God has dealt very kindly, 



32 

permitting her to reach an age at which few arrive — one who 
can participate in the pleasant scenes of this hour with such 
ieelings as are peculiar only to a mother. God bless her, and 
favor her with many more happy days, and many more joyful 
scenes on earth, till they shall be exchanged for the higher and 
purer scenes of the heavenly world ! 

There is still another person here of similar age, a gentle- 
man who, at the installation of my brother Pike, participated 
in the exercises, who has known him from early childhood, and 
who was the companion and intimate friend of the father, as he 
has been of the son — a gentleman whose pen has instructed 
and charmed us all, and whose voice and countenance are fa- 
miliar to many in this congregation. There is no one who has 
a better claim to be heard first on this occasion, than the Rev. 
Dr. Withington of Newburyport. Shall we now have the pleas- 
ure of listening to him ? 

ADDRESS BY DR. WITHINGTON. 

You notice, Mr. Chairman, that I have been whispering (o 
the individual on whom the interest of this day chiefly concen- 
trates. A very general desire has been expressed by the clergy 
here assembled, that he should repeat on this occasion the ser- 
mon which he last Sabbath delivered to his people. I am sure 
it will be more appropriate and interesting than anything I can 
say. But I find he declines the proposal. He says that not 
being prepared for such an exhibition, and not expecting it, he 
wishes the exercises of this day to take their appointed course. 

I will then go on to speak, and begin my remarks with a pas- 
sage from Scripture : — ' v My son, keep thy father's command- 
ment, and forsake not the law of thy mother : bind them con- 
tinually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck." Prov. 
6 ; 20, 21. Such is the structure of our minds that they are 
subject to unaccountable impressions. Even inanimate ob- 
jects may teach us moral lessons. The poet Burns says, " I 
have some favorite flowers in Spring, among which are the 
Mountain Daisy, the Harebell, the Fox Glove, the Wild Brier 
Rose, and the hoary Hawthorn, that I view and hang over with 
particular delight. I never heard the loud," solitary whistle of 
the curlew in a Summer morn, or the wild mixing cadence of a 
troop of gray plover in the Autumn morning, without feeling an 
elevation of soul like the enthusiasm of devotion and poetry." 
We are all of us subject to similar exaggerations. For my 
part, the Succory plant, a little blue flower which is not found 
in our soil, but groAvs south of Boston, is always to me a pa- 
thetic object. It reminds me of home and my native soil. I 
have seen it growing by the road-side, and on the grave. Some 



33 

passage of poetry strike us with inordinate beauty ; their in- 
fluence is inexpressible. The following from Shakespeare, which 
I met in a quotation long before I had seen his works, is of this 
character : — 

"Wight's candles are burn'd out, and jocund day 
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain's top." 

The personification of day, and the poetic attitude in which it 
stands, were to my boyish mind, inexpressibly beautiful. 

So these lines from Dr. Watts — 

" Unveil thy bosom faithful tomb, 

Take this new treasure to thy trust, 
And giye these sacred kelics room 
To slumber in thy silent dust." 

But of all our sacred impressions, the deepest, come from the 
recollections of Puritanism. Has it been your happy lot to be 
born in one of those old houses of the middle class, resting 
around its ponderous central chimney, its hinder roof sloping 
to the ground, its unpainted door opening to the South, every 
story jutting out as it rises, a talJ pear tree growing near, with 
the grindstone under it, the high well pole pointing to the sky, 
the ponderous beam running over the sitting room, the light- 
stand there, with your grandfather's quarto bible covered with 
sheepskin, and his spectacles in their steel case, lying by its 
side ; have you heard him read and pray in those inimita- 
ble tones of Puritan simplicity, you have certainly impres- 
sions which no time can ever efface. The Bible uses these sa- 
cred recollections ; God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Ja- 
cob. We wept lohen we remembered Zion. The long genealogy 
which is given to our Saviour, is constructed on this principle. 
The passage already quoted from Proverbs, is addressed to this 
tender spot in our hearts. It connects heaven and earth, and 
pours all the feelings of our hearts into one channel. I never 
felt the importance of 1 his principle more fully than when Mr. 
Burnheim, the converted Jew, told me of the bitter tears which 
his mother shed when he had embraced Christianity. A mer- 
ciful God has saved us Puritans from this war in the heart. 

1 am invited to speak of the family of our brother. It is 
true I have often been a guest at the hospitable table of his 
father. He was a true Puritan of the genuine stamp ; such a 
man as was formed by the Assembly's Catechism ; he was 
not a man that had had the education or advantages of his son, 
but for sterling sense, sound discretion, native power and clear 
discernment, I think the father was fully equal to the son. The 
families of him and his partner were of the same stamp ; they 
were of Puritan descent. But my business is not with his lin- 
eage. Let us come to himself. 

5 



34 

I feel ! I am approaching a delicate task. I must comply with; 
the spirit of the occasion, and not flatter him. I believe I am 
no flatterer ; I believe he will bear witness that during our 
long acquaintance, he has had to bear as much severity as com- 
mendation. 

How shall I begin }. what shall I say ? I will begin with a 
fact which none can dispute, the very occasion speaks it. He 
has maintained his ministry for twenty- five years, and that 
too, in these fluctuating times. It is a very different thing to* 
have a long pastorate in these giddy days, from what it was in 
the times of our fathers. Then the law protected them ; now 
every man is a volunteer. Then a strong public opinion guarded 
the desk ; now we are agitated by every wind of speculation. 

Secondly. — The fulness of his preaching, — not shunning ic 
declare all the counsel of God. 

Thirdly. — Elaborating his sermons. I believe it may be said 
that he has brought beaten oil into the sanctuary. I have always 
noticed that those men who have had long pastorates have paid 
particular attention to the composition of their sermons — Father 
Braman of Rowley, (I never heard him preach a mean sermon,) 
Brother Kimball of Ipswich, Dr. Barnes in a great city, Dr. 
Spring of New York with a still longer ministry and in a still 
more difficult place. 

Fourthly. — I believe I may say that our brother has made it 
his rule to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him 
crucified. And this Apostolic direction he has understood in 
the noblest and most ample sense. Some would confine this, 
maxim to a very narrow province ' y they would make the Apostle 
censure the Saviour's example ; they would not allow you to. 
take a subject from the Sermon on the Mount. The rule of the 
Apostle is broad, — it covers the whole gospel ; its doctrines, its 
duties. It is like the sun in heaven, diffusing its radiance on 
every side. 

Lastly. — I have one more quality to mention. Perhaps you 
have none of you thought of it, and, if my good brother him- 
self was to try to conjecture, he would not be able to imagine 
what I am going to say. You have often observed that a man 
is sometimes most unconscious of the virtue or- fault, most in- 
grained in his nature. He boasts of those qualities which he 
least possesses, and is insensible to those influences which ev- 
ery body else feels. When Bonaparte was in Italy, until he 
reached the bridge of Lodi, he was unconscious of that vast 
power of combination which led him to his victories. How 
shall I express it ? The prophet Ezekiel, vii. 23, was directed 
to make a chain. Some critics understand this chain as an em- 
blem of the captivity, but Israel was already in captivity. We 



35 

snust seek a meaning in another direction. It would be well 
if all preachers would make a chain, to bind their doctrines 
permanently on the public heart. Yes, make a chain that your 
influence may continue forever. We find some preachers that 
are very popular, that have vast public attraction, that collect 
great audiences, that have a boundless fancy ; their basket is 
always full of flowers, they never want for an illustration ; but 
when they are dead, their influence is dead with them ; their 
lessons are scattered to the four winds of heaven. Now let it 
be our effort to make a chain, to bind the system of the gospel 
on the common heart. This was the glory of the Scotch church. 
This was the glory, in some degree, of the church in Holland — 
and this was the glory of the fathers of New England. Let it 
be our effort, like Abel, when we are dead, yet to speak. 

The choir sung ** How lovely is Zion." 

Mr. Coggin. — Of the gentlemen who were present at the 
installation of our friend, we are fortunate in having with us 
^another who took an important part in the services of that 
occasion., and who has been longer in the same field as an acting 
pastor, than any other one connected with the Essex North As- 
sociation The sympathy and affection which he expressed, 
when he gave my brother the 4t Right Hand of Fellowship," 
I have no doubt have been retained, and even increased 
throughout these twenty-five years. Will the Rev. Mr. Camp- 
bell of Newburyport, favor us with some remarks ? 

RKV. MR. CAMPBELL'S REMARKS. 

1 presume my communication of last evening, is among oth- 
ers, now lying on this table. It sets forth reasons which then 
seemed to forbid my attendance upon this meeting. I desired 
to be here, but the pressure of other claims, as I judged at the 
time, did not warrant the privilege. The question was settled, 
and I little anticipated what a conflict awaited me when the 
morning came. My wife and daughter unitedly commenced the 
assault, as I was very peacefully satisfying my appetite at the 
breakfast table. 

I confess that this conflict disturbed me, but I felt strong and 
sure of victory. Attack followed attack so briskly, however, that 
presently, I began to experience a sense of weakness, and to 
question myself secretly, whether my apology would appear as 
satisfactory to my friends in Rowley, as i r had done to me. It 
was not long before I felt as those did at my home, and said, 
Enough : I'll go. 



B6 

Brother Pike has been long a dear friend of mine. I came 
to Rowley in 1840 with the hope that he might be your minis- 
ter. Not knowing who the committee might be, I went to the 
house of an aged, greatly honored and beloved father of this 
ehureh, who has now finished his course and taken his crown. 
I found that he and his son-in-law, now an active member of 
this church, were upon the salt-marsh, and thither I went. 
What I said I do not remember, but my feelings were earnest, 
and the result was that my brother preached here, and soon be- 
came the Pastor elect. I gave him the Right Hand of Fellow- 
ship at his Installation, with a most lively sense of hearty fel- 
lowship in the common faith of your Puritan ancestry. You 
have now had twenty-five years to test the judgment then pro- 
nounced concerning him. You were a Puritan people, loved 
the good old paths of your fathers, and wanted the old-fashioned 
faith of other days, without modifications. Has not that faith 
been preached to you with fervency and power, and amid pre- 
cious revivals, have you not rejoiced in its fruit } 

For myself, I love the faith of the Puritans. I hesitate not 
to speak freely of them ; as I may not boast of this illustrious 
lineage. My father was the son, the grandson, and the 
great grandson of Scotland's Presbyterian ministers. My con- 
nexion is with the Scottish Covenanters — not the Puritans. 
But theirs was a common faith ; for I love to preach it not as 
being theirs ; but rather as being that of the great Gentile Apos- 
tle : which himself had received of the Holy Ghost, and pub- 
lished in the inspired word. 

I rejoice in the measure of harmony that still prevails in fa- 
vor of this ancient faith. I rejoice that the late general coun- 
cil in Boston — of which your Pastor was a member — reaffirm- 
ed this old-fashioned Pauline faith. 1 only regret that any ne- 
cessity should have seemed to exist, for the introduction of any 
qualifying term of vague, indefinite significancy But the peo- 
ple here desire no human modification of Divine truth, and are 
glad to walk in the old paths, and will in every suitable way, 
sustain the Pastor in preaching it to themselves and their chil- 
dren. Make free use of the old Puritan Primer, the Assembly's 
Shorter Catechism, where you have the most perfect uninspired 
expression of the Cardinal truths taught in God's Word. Hold 
fast these great doctrines, not because they constitute the Cate- 
chism, but because tney are the deliverance of the Holy Spirit 
in the Word. In the family and in the Sabbath School, give 
this invaluable summary of the Faith, its proper place, and so 
come to the help of your Pastor. Through his ministry in long 
future years, may it please the great Head of the Church, the 
Shepherd and Bishop of souls, to provide for your growth in the 



37 

knowledge of God, and to lead you and your children into the 
"'green pastures and beside the still waters." 

Mr. Coggin. — I am pleased to see with us to-day a repre- 
sentative from the College of which my brother Pike is a grad- 
uate — a professor in that Institution — who comes from a no- 
ble and honored stock, and in whose veins flows the clerical 
blood of at least two generations. Shall we have the pleasure 
of listening to Professor Sewall, of Bowdoin College r 

PROFESSOR SEWALL'S ADDRESS. 

Mr. Moderator — My dear Brother — Ladies and Gentlemen: 
— It gives me great pleasure to be here to-day. I came a 
long distance yesterday through the severe storm, for the sake 
of being present, but I rise with reluctance. . I acknowledge 
the duty of every man to add his portion on such an occasion, 
but I have neither a link of the iron chain, nor a flower from 
the full basket, of which my venerable predecessor (Dr. With- 
ington) has spoken, to offer. 

I must content myself with presenting the message from the 
President and Faculty of Bowdoin College with which I am 
commissioned. And I may add, remembering what General 
Sherman is reported to have said once upon a platform with 
General Grant, viz : that he was accustomed to obey orders — 
his superior was present — if ordered to speak he should speak ; 
that I am present according to orders — I recognise and obey 
the orders of my superior officer, (alluding to Mr. Pike's being 
a member of the Board of Overseers of Bowdoin College.) 

Before discharging my commission, I will say a few words of 
reminiscence. A little more than ten years since, my tent was 
pitched in the neighboring town of Lynn. I do not remember 
when I first became acquainted with my brother Pike, but I do 
remember the many pleasant interviews and associations we have 
had together — in my own study, at. public meetings, and other 
places. I remember especially, brother Pike, a very pleasant 
ride and conversation you and I had together, from New Bedford 
to Boston, returning from the Massachusetts General Associa- 
tion. And this one thing I can say : I do not remember a sin- 
gle interview with my brother, whether at my own house or 
elsewhere, that I was not cheered, quickened and refreshed 
thereby. My good brother Pike has this capital quality ; he 
not only " knows how to make chains," he knoivs how to laugh. 
He not only preaches the solid gospel truth, and knows how to 
warn, rebuke and exhort on occasion, but he carries a warm, 
genial heart in his bosom, and shows it in his countenance. 



38 

And I have no doubt, if I could appeal to this people, that they 
would affirm to me that the walls of their houses have resounded 
in proper proportion to the cheerful, hearty laugh of their pas- 
tor, as well as to his prayers and sympathies, counsels and ex- 
hortations. Brother Pike is a minister who knows how to 
laugh as well as to preach. He is a good illustration of the 
fact that good old Puritan doctrine does not crush out genial 
spirit — on the other hand is eminently consistent with it. 

Dr. Withington has said that brother Pike has been making 
chains. Let me add that he has been affixing stamps. A few 
years ago, I preached some Sabbaths in the town of Monson, 
in this State, where the good Dr Ely was so long pastor. I 
heard it remarked in that vicinity that every man from that 
town could be known, for he bore Dr. Ely's stamp. So I think 
brother Pike has been affixing his stamp upon the young people 
who have grown up under his charge in this place these last 
twenty-five years. I have no doubt they all bear his stamp — 
and it is no black mark either — rather, it is like the stamp 
which the United States government affixes to its paper which 
makes that paper of worth ; aye, better, it is like that good, 
handsome, wholesome stamp which it puts upon the gold eagles 
and half eagles in the mint at Philadelphia, so little of which 
gladdens our eyes in these days. Brother Pike's work has been 
that of moulding, forming, shaping children, young people, men 
and women. 

I now discharge myself oi the duty with which I am commis- 
sioned. The President and Faculty of Bowdoin College present 
to you, my brother, and to the people of your charge, on this 
occasion, their compliments, kindest regards, and congratula- 
tions. 

Mb. Coggin. — There are few ties stronger than those which 
'exist between College classmates. The affection which, at least, 
three have for their old classmate, is evident from the pains they 
have taken to be present, and participate in the happy scenes of 
this hour. I have the pleasure of introducing to the audience 
the Rev. Mr. Savage, of Franklin, N. H. 

ADDRESS OF REV. MR. SAVAGE. 

I am glad to be here. This occasion, of so much significance 
to you, my brother, and to the people of this place, is one of 
great gratification to me ; and I am thankful to the committee, 
and to yourself, for the privilege of joining in these commemo- 
rative services. 

Thirty-six years ago, we first met — your Pastor and I — as 
freshmen at Bowdoin College, having just come from the homes 



39 

of our fathers, at Newburyport and Bangor, and being just un- 
tied from the apron strings of our mothers Four years, we were 
together there in the mill, getting manufactured and shaped for 
life, storing our minds, developing our affections and energies, 
and preparing for what there was in the world for us to do, and 
for what we were competent to perform. 

My brother, unquestionably, will remember the last supper at 
which the class of 1833 met, to bury all unkindness that might 
have aris?n, and to pledge hands and hearts to faithfulness and 
friendship, henceforth ; and he will, perhaps, recall some words 
then spoken — it fell to my lot to be the " orator " of the occa- 
sion — striving to imagine and depict what that life was which 
stretched out so beautifully before us. Ah, how unreal, how 
romantic the views of those halcyon days ! He will remember, 
I doubt not, a sentiment introduced and made prominent on 
that occasion. I am the more confident here, as the evi- 
dence is such that he has practically adopted it. I refer to the 
toast offered by Harris, now so worthily filling the chair of The- 
ology at Bangor : " Here's to the future wives of the class of 
'33. May they be beautiful as Houris and wise as Zobeide." 

My position here to-day I find to be peculiar, in this respect : 
that never till now have I put foot on the soil, which you, my 
brother, have trodden during the twenty-five years of your pro- 
fessional life. I never saw Rowley, except in passing over it on 
the iron track, till yesterday. The people of this religious soci- 
ety, gathered together here, I never saw till to-day. The glori- 
ous Gospel of the Son of God, to whieh we are both devoted, I 
never heard you preach in my life. 

We have a large store of memories and associations of olden 
time. We have met for a few flitting moments at public gath- 
erings. There was the glorious class-meeting at Bowdoin, after 
thirty years' absence, never to be forgotten while life lasts. For 
a night's tarry, I welcomed you in my happy home at the head 
waters of the Merrimack. And this is all of intercourse and 
practical fellowship, the years have granted us. But now, at 
length, I see the place of your labors, solicitudes and triumphs, 
and I am rejoiced to behold it under these auspices. I am glad 
to mingle in these festivities, and to be witness of the surging 
emotions that pervade all hearts. 

I have not known particularly, my friends, of your pastor's 
labors and influence for Christ here. I doubt not they have 
been efficient and enduring. Many fruits are apparent, to-day. 
A moral power, doubtless, has gone forth from this centre in wi- 
dening circles all around. A certain effluence and savor of his 
Christian name has extended to the hills of New Hampshire — 
to Kearsarge, at the foot of which I dwell, and to the mountains 



40 

beyond. From those heights, with the same presiding divinity 
above, we look down and discover who are the faithful men who 
inhabit the plain. We note their spirit and bearing in the 
great conflict of life. And I rejoice to reckon my friend, your 
Pastor, among them. I rejoice to know that he has stood firmly 
for his country under the assaults of traitors. I am glad that 
he stands for the principles and spirit of the fathers, in doctrine 
and polity. J am glad that h^ guarded the foundation truths on 
which the fabric of our liberties and prosperity rests. And I 
am glad at the proof of your appreciating his work, in so long 
supporting his influence on this field. 

There was an election sermon delivered in the Metropolis of 
this Commonwealth, some years ago, — I think it was not yours, 
my brother, — in which the preacher selected for his text this 
passage : " There was a little city, and few men within it ; and 
there came a great king against it and besieged it, and built 
great bulwarks against it ; now there was found in it a poor, 
wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city ; yet no man 
remembered that same poor man." The text was striking, and 
I do not remember to what section or town the preacher ap- 
plied his moral, or whether he applied it to any locality. But 
I am satisfied that he did not apply it to Rowley and its minis- 
ter. Whether your minister is poor in this world's goods, I do 
not know : but I hope he is not. I am quite aware that he is 
not poor in higher, and in the highest respects, unless he has 
sadly degenerated from olden time. I have no doubt that he is 
wise. What great kings, you may have had waging war against 
your city, I do not know, besieging it and building great bul- 
warks against it ; or what inroads of powerful error, you may 
have had made upon you ; or what deliverances you may have 
experienced by the hand of our friend, or other heroes. But 
this is plain and probable, there are some men here, in this 
town, who remember their Paster. In fact, from w 7 hat my eyes 
behold, I should judge that all the people, men, women and 
children, rise up and call him blessed. 

It seems to me a great and glorious thing for a man to have 
preached the Gospel of Christ to one people for twenty-five 
years, and for a church and society to have appreciated and 
sustained a faithful pastor so long. Most ministers, in these 
days, are peripatetics in their pastoral career, but you have stood 
firm, and have dwelt among your own people. J uring this pe- 
riod, what efforts and toils have been expended and received. 
What trials and triumphs, what joys and sorrows, have been ex- 
perienced. "SA hat innumerable associations have been estab- 
lished that can never be untwined, and what memories planted 
that can never be lost. What shaping influences have been mu- 



41 

tually imparted and received. How you have become bound 
up together in the same bundle of fortune and life. What a 
tide of influence your joint efforts will roll down on the future, 
and into the endless ages. This completed quarter- century of 
your united life can never be lost. 'Tis said, the towns on the 
margin of the Connecticut river, to-day, bear the sensible im- 
press of the gospel ministers early resident in them, and that 
the peculiar and diverse characteristics of those men are indeli- 
bly inscribed on the living community there. So may it be, so 
must it be, here ; and that the influence maybe one of strength 
and beauty entire, let the aspiration of all be, " Sursum cordd". 
"■For me to live is Christ ," — may it be the motto of every 
heart. 

Mr. Coggin. — We are favored with the presence of a gen- 
tleman, who, although not a clergyman, we had hoped would 
become such. He finished a theological course of study at.An- 
dover with pleasing prospects of success ; and while there, was 
well acquainted with the pastor of this flock. Our regret that 
he did not enter upon the profession, for which he seemed so 
well fitted, would be greater if he had not served the public 
with so much acceptance in another capacity. The Hon. Allen 
W. Dodge of Hamilton, our worthy County Treasurer, is too 
well known to you to need an introduction. Will he be so kind 
as to favor us with some remarks ? 



ADDRESS BY HON. MR. DODGE. 

Mr. Chairman and Friends : 

This is the first time I have heard that anybody ever had 
pleasing hopes of my usefulness in the ministry. True, I was 
a member of the Theological Seminary with brother Pike and 
boarded in the same family with him. But as the time of our 
leaving approached, I was so oppressed with a sense of my 
own incompetence and unworthiness for the work of the minis- 
try, that I shrank from it. Well do I remember being called 
upon about this time by Professor Park, who had made an ap- 
pointment to preach the next day at Marblehead, and who re- 
quested me to go and preach for him. Of course I declined, 
promptly and positively. The Professor, however, prevailed, 
and I went. As I journeyed thither alone in a one horse chaise, 
my thoughts and feelings were of the most painful character. 
If ever a man going to be hung felt worse, I pity him. The 



42 

idea of my preaching was bad enough ; but for me to attempt 
to perform that service for one so gifted and eloquent — to hold 
up my farthing rush-light where the sun was expected to shine — 
the thought was intolerable. I was hospitably entertained by 
that mother in Israel, Madam Reed, — now gone to her rest, — 
who, seeing my condition, did what she could to cheer and en- 
courage me. How I got through with the pulpit services, it is 
impossible for me to tell. But the next morning I hastened out 
of town before sunrise, lest the boys might follow me in the 
streets, with the cry " There goes the man that tried to preach 
yesterday." 

" Pleasing hopes," truly, but never to be realized ! But as 
respects Brother Pike, how have they come to fulfilment, mak- 
ing the reality more than the anticipation ! For the whole pe- 
riod of his ministry, I have kept up my acquaintance with him. 
A good deal of praise has been lavished upon him, but in my 
judgment, like a good note he needs no endorsement. 1 have 
heard him preach some sermons that were very good, and some 
that were not so very good. He has consulted with me at times 
when he has had invitations to quit Rowley for a larger field of 
labor. Always, have I counselled against his leaving a place 
where he was so blessed by the Master. I have used the old 
arguments with him, " Let well alone," "A rolling stone gath- 
ers no moss," but chiefly have I urged that confidence and in- 
fluence are gained by years of labor in one spot, and that a re- 
moval involves the hazard of their loss. 

And so the beloved minister of this people continueth with 
them to this day. Twenty-five years of service in one part of 
the Lord's vineyard, and his natural strength, aye, and his spirit- 
ual strength, too, not abated ! One such example of a long 
and successful ministry, shows the possibilities of the case. 
The call now-a-days is frequent and loud for more ministers. 
Some seem to think that more ministers necessarily mean more 
young ministers, and the tendency is to get rid of the old ones 
as soon as they become old. If, instead of this, we should adopt 
a different course, and strive to prolong the life, health, and 
usefulness of the ministers now in the field, by giving them a 
more liberal support, providing more cheerfully for their many 
wants, sympathising oftener with them in their trials and in- 
firmities, and upholding more firmly their influence by every 
honorable means in our power, be assured ministers would 
hold out longer, and be more useful and acceptable to the peo- 
ple among whom they dwell. Young ministers must, for a time 
at least, have a certain unripeness, but he who has years over 
his head has the richness, the mellowness, and the consistence 
of the matured fruit. The mental powers in vigor, the aged 



43 

preacher or pastor exerts an influence that is incalculable. The 
preaching of the Gospel is a force in the body politic, that no 
human laws or statutes can supply. It controls the conscience 
and the heart, and through these, the life. Shut out the preach- 
ing of the Gospel from our pulpits, and the public morals and 
the public weal would speedily decline. 

Belief in the Gospel is not a passive acceptation of it. It is 
an active principle, entering the soul, and bringing all its powers 
into subjection to it. If we believe that this Gospel, with the 
truths and doctrines it involves, is essential to our happiness in 
the life that now is and in that which is to come, shall we re- 
frain from inculcating it upon our children, under the plausible 
pretence that it is not right to influence their religious belief: 
" Oh," say some in these days, " let their young minds alone 
till they are able to form their own opinions about the great 
truths of the Bible — it is unfair to direct them by inculcating 
even a parent's belief upon them before they have come to years 
of discretion, and are able to choose for themselves." 

When these views were urged upon Coleridge by a friend, "I 
showed him," he says, " my garden, and told him it was my 
botanical garden." " How so ?"' said he, " it is covered with 
weeds." '-Oh," I replied, "that is only because it has not yet 
come to its age of discretion and choice. The weeds, you see, 
have taken the liberty to grow, and I thought it unfair in me to 
prejudice the soil towards roses and strawberries." So true is 
it, that while we sleep an enemy is sowing tares. No, no. The 
faith that I deem essential to my salvation, I must teach to my 
child — aye, in early childhood — for so run precept and example 
in the Bible. I, the parent, must teach it, — it cannot be dele- 
gated to another to teach ; the eternal well-being of my offspring, 
I may not wholly trust, even to the best preacher or the best 
Sabbath school teacher, but must co-operate with him in the 
task. Youth so instructed and indoctrinated, will rise up to 
take the place of the fathers and the mothers, and to perpetuate 
the Puritan faith in all its life-giving completeness. 

To this end, the preacher must impress parental obligation 
and privilege. He must regard, too, his whole people as his 
children, for whose faithful training he will rightfully be held 
responsible. It will not do for him to imitate those who at the 
beginning set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, 
then that which is worse. It will not do to preach elaborate 
discourses at the outset in the ministry, and then fall off in 
the pains bestowed upon them, fancying that the hearers will be 
content with anything. By no manner of means. Such a pro- 
tracted ministry is spiritual death. This grievous sin cannot be 



laid at the door of this pulpit. Our brother Pike has kept the 
good wine until now, only he will not let us have it to-day.* 

We must bear in mind, though, that mere intellect, however 
strong and cultivated, holds not the keys of Heaven. It helps 
to unlock, but it must bo joined with grace and humility to ad- 
minister an abundant entrance The preacher may sometimes 
have few talents, yet if these be faithfully used, he is accepted 
of the Master. He may have only one talent, but if he hide it 
not slothfully, but tries manfully to exercise it, he should be 
kindly regarded for his work's sake. He should be listened to- 
with no hypercritical ear, but with an earnest spirit to extract 
all the good from his discourse, even though, like Paul, his bodily 
presence be weak, and his speech contemptible. 

" Judge not the preacher, for he is thy judge ; 

" If thou mistake him, thou coneeivest him not. 

" God calls preaching folly. Do not grudge 

" To pick out treasures from an earthen pot. 

" The worst speak something good — if all want sense,. 

" God takes a text and preacheth patience. 

Mr. Coggin. — The choir will now unite in singing a hymn 
prepared for this occasion, to the just and appropriate senti- 
ments of which we can all respond. 

ORIGINAL HYMN — BY JOSEPH HALE. 

These autumn winds waft back the hour, 

Ever to mem'ry dear ; 
When in the dew of youth began 

Our Pastor's labors here. 

It seems but yesterday ! for short 

Life's bright hour e'er appears; 
But treach'rous Time his record shows r 

Of five and twenty years. 

Thou'st not grown old ! no ; time for thee 

Wreaths garlands fresh and fair * 
The bud, unfolding, sure must give 

More fragrance to the air. 

Fanning with constant zeal, the flame 

That fired thy youthful tongue, . 
The sun upon thy dial, turned 

Backward, and kept thee young. 

This little Flock thou long hast led 

In pastures green and fair ; 
Giving to age, thy strength and heart,, 

To youth, thy tend' rest care. 

^Alluding to the fact that Mr, Pike had been strongly urged by 
some in attendance to repeat, on this occasion, the Anniversary 
Discourse which he had preached to his people the previous Sabbath. 



45 

Striving thy Master' s will to know ; 

And knowing, to fulfil ; 
Ready for every word and work, 

The promptings of his will. 

When on thine ear, "the still small voice' 
Seemed "rustling 'mid the trees;" 

The banner of the Cross was flung, 
To woo the heavenly breeze. 

In darker hours, when fearful hearts 
Might quail and leave their posts, 

We found thee rallying round the Cross, 
Strong in the Lord of Hosts. , 

Unkindly and unchristian words, 
Thy tongue have never soiled ; 

Nor hath the cry of cold neglects 
Thy Priestly robes despoiled. 

For noble deeds and generous acts, 

Thy heart and life beat high ; 
The breathings of thy kindly heart 

Were never born to die. 

The precious seed, — it shall come forth, 

And yield a harvest fair ; 
The fruitage from the golden sheaves, 

Posterity shall share. 

The influence of the good and great 
Stops not, when lifework's done ; 

But travels on from age to age ; 
Descends from sire to son. 

Pastor ! the tie that bound us first, 
Strengthens with fading years ; 

Though golden links from out the chain 
Pass to yon heavenly spheres. 

Tho' fast our Aarons and our Hurs 
Pass o'er the stream of death; 

Forgive the thought ! such tender loves 
Must perish with the breath. 

Tho' forms we loved may sleep in dust, 

Their spirits come at will, 
And hallowing every earthly joy, 

Assure, they love us still. 



46 

For love, that germ of life divine, 

When wanes the mortal breath, 
Shineth more brightly, and it seems 

More beautiful in death. 

Then with us still in love are joined 

The good of other days ; 
The unseen angels round our paths, 

Companions on our ways. 

Toil on ! toil on ! let thoughts like these 

Beguile thy weary hours ; 
When drear thy path, some kindly hand 

Snail strew it o'er with flowers. 

Then when thy mission is fulfilled, 

Laying thine armor down, 
A voice shall fall upon thy ear, 

" Come up, and take thy Crown !" 

Me. Coggin. — I am happy now to introduce another class- 
mate, who will undoubtedly corroborate what has been said, 
and give us some further reminiscences of my brother's college 
life. We shall be pleased to listen to the Rev. Mr. Parsons, of 
Derry, N. H. 

ADDRESS OF REV. MR. PARSONS. 

My first night in College was spent in forecasting the future, 
that seemed so long. But those years that seemed so long have 
passed. How short thirty-six years now look in the retrospect, 
and yet how vast the interests that mark them. Some decided 
steps have been taken, it will be conceded, towards the final 
result, in the "perpetual contest going on — the conflict of might 
with right — which is gradually reducing the empire of force, and 
extending that of Justice." 

Whatever our brother has done, or may do, in his busy and 
efficient life, was foretold by his conscientious, earnest, and en- 
ergetic boyhood. Such was his apparent purity and sincerity 
of heart and action, that an excellent classmate, who might, 
himself, rightly receive the same honorable appellation, very 
properly styles him "the Nathaniel of the class; an Is- 
raelite indeed, in whom there is no guile." Fidelity to 
every duty, promptness and haste, even, in its performance, 
were marked characteristics. System in the arrangement of 
his time and work enabled him to accomplish with ease, what 
others not less gifted, perhaps, in other respects, found it hard 
to do. Thus he seemed at that early period to have his forces 



47 

so well in hand that he could use and direct them, and get the 
best out of them at his will. 

Our brother's religious character in College was significant of 
all it has been since. Mature, if not oldish, in his theological 
views, there, he has not failed to be a shade or two conservative 
since. Always present at religious meetings, he was ready to 
do his part, and to do it well. Interested and active in times 
of religious revival, he would visit his companions at their 
rooms, or walk with them in the groves, seeking to win them to 
Christ. Prayer was his daily food, as I had good opportunity 
of knowing, and I think the remarkable ease and appropriate- 
ness of our brother in this sacred service is attributable, in a 
large degree, to the time and care spent in his private devotions 
in College, and not a little, perhaps, to his familiarity with those 
model prayers through which the saints of other ages have been 
brought nearer to God. 

Energy and earnestness were our friend's boyhood qualities, 
seen in his manner of walking, manifest in the resolution and 
vigor of his exercising in the wood yard, at the early morning 
and evening twilight, and felt in the persistence with which he 
would hold on to one he was seeking to influence, until he con- 
vinced the understanding, and constrained the will to his meas- 
ures. 

I must not fail to mention the genial nature of our brother, 
which, lying deep within, is all-pervasive, and crops out every- 
where ; which creates a delightful common sympathy between 
him and the young, and forms a beautiful and enduring tie be- 
tween him and " children of a larger growth." This, and a 
native dignity belonging to his form and manner, impressed his 
associates in College with a degree of filial reverence, which has 
followed him in after years. And I think they have had much 
to do with the success of our brother in his church and parish, 
and in the surrounding communities. Mere force of intellect 
does not accomplish all things. Benevolent sympathy in word 
and look, — true, kindly fellow-feeling with those with whom we 
move and act, will hardly fail to reach the spot said to lie in 
every soul susceptible of influence for good. 

Our brother Pike was famous, in those days, for a certain 
outer garment of substantial Scotch Stuff, which became his- 
torical with his classmates. Wnile it identified and comforted 
the outer man, it was symbolical of those staid and sterling 
qualities of the " gude land" of which he was so largely pos- 
sessed. If he is not a Scotsman of the Scots, he is a Puritan 
of the Puritans, and has not failed in these times of patriotic 
christian zeal for the right and the true, to demonstrate, on his 
part, the truth of Bancroft's faithful statement that " Puritan- 



48 

ism was religion struggling for the people." Puritanism has 
still its peculiar mission — is still religion struggling for the peo- 
ple. It will be persistent in its heroic office, if God helps those 
who are inspired by its genius, and are harnessed for the conflict, 
until here, and everywhere, might shall yield to right, and the 
empire of force shall submit to that of Justice. 

Mr. Coggin. — There is yet another classmate present, to 
whom we shall be happy to listen : but we shall be obliged to 
defer his remarks till the evening, social gathering. 

One of the most interesting periods in my brother's life, as it 
is in the life of every one, is the time when he first consecrated 
himself to that Saviour, whom he has so long served. There 
was one at that time who took a special interest in his spiritual 
welfare, who counselled and aided him in the early stages of his 
christian life, and who has ever since been a warm friend. Will 
the Rev. Mr. Thompson, of Amesbury, be so kind as to give us 
some reminiscences of our brother Pike at that interesting pe- 
riod of his life, to which I have referred ? 

REV. MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS. 

Mr. Chairman, Brother Pike, and Friends : — I am very happy 
to be present, and participate in the services of this rare occa- 
sion. Nothing short of my warm interest in the pastor of the 
church in Rowley, and the peculiar nature of these commemo- 
rative exercises, could have induced me to leave home, and come 
this distance to-day in the face of obstacles so numerous and so 
great as those which opposed my coming. My acquaintance with 
brother Pike began thirty-seven years ago the present season, 
when we were both boys about fifteen years of age. It would 
be a pleasure to me to relate many of the incidents that marked 
our early acquaintance, though it would be a task, indeed, to 
recall, at this distance of time, all, or the half that may have 
been said or done by Yankee boys of our age. But as the call 
just made upon me by the Chairman had particular reference to 
our brother's first religious experience, I shall confine the few 
remarks I have to make to that subject, as having more perti- 
nency to this occasion than any other upon which my recollec- 
tions of the past now serve me. 

In the autumn of 1828, Mr. Alfred W. Pike, an eminent 
teacher of youth in those days, commenced his first term as 
the Principal of the Warren Academy in Woburn. He had 
previously taught in Newburyport, and, on his removal from 
that place to Woburn, he took with him a considerable number 



49 

of Vis old pupils, among whom was the "boy, John Pike. For 
two years previous to this time there had been in progress at 
Woburn the most remarkable revival of religion, of which I 
have ever had any knowledge. It continued, uninterruptedly, for 
three years, and moved every family in town. Of this revival 
the Rev. Mr. Bennett, then and for nearly five years before, the 
pastor of the Congregational Church in Woburn, was himself 
one of the first subjects. 

Among the young men who gathered there at that interesting 
period, was one, who, though educated in the Orthodox faith, 
had openly and zealously avowed his belief in Unitarianism. 
In his father's attic, he had found, as he subsequently informed 
us, a very plausible old pamphlet upon the Unitarian side of 
the great controversy of those days, which he eagarly read and 
pondered in secret till it changed him into an ardent and ag- 
gressive disciple of its doctrines. Providentially, however, ere 
entering the Academy, he became a boarder in one of the best 
Teligious families in town, where other young men, recent con- 
verts in the revival, were his constant companions. For many 
weeks a silent but strong christian influence was brought to 
bear directly upon him, and early in the Spring of 1829, he 
one morning surprised, and filled the whole house with joy, 
by announcing his utter rejection of Unitarianism, and his de- 
termination to consecrate himself to the service of Christ. He 
immediately took an open and decided stand, and deliberately 
and earnestly set himself to the work of personal conversation 
with his schoolmates. One of the first, — if my memory is cor- 
rect, the very first, — student with whom he conversed was a 
Newburyport boy. then in the 16th year of his age. The boy 
was tall and large for his age, and had a manly appearance, but 
like most others of his age, he was still a boy, and manifested 
something of a boy's quick and proud resistance. But the ef- 
fort of the young convert was successful. The boy was imme- 
diately found to be under deep conviction. For several days he 
could scarcely eat or sleep, and his text- books were laid aside. 
I was myself a member of the Academy, and, having, as I 
thought, become a subject of the great revival two years pre- 
vious, I sought, and obtained permission from our teacher to 
leave the school-room occasionally, that I might go to the rooms 
of the anxious ones, who were now multiplying, and talk and 
pray with them. On one occasion in particular, I remember 
finding my anxious school-mate from Netuburyport in his room 
at the South East corner, third story, in the boarding house, 
seated beside his equally anxious room-mate, the picture, almost, 
of blank despair, I tried to point them to the Lamb of God, 
but they were so overcome with emotion, it seemed as if all hu~ 
7 



50 

man utterances nmst be powerless. One of the two, m his dis- 
tress, wished himself "-a brute, or any thing, — any thing rather 
than an immortal being, and yet such a sinner." The struggle,, 
sometimes realized in those whose eyes are opened to see a holy 
God and their own sinfulness, was soon over ; in less than a 
week from the first confession of anxiety, both were rejoicing 
in hope, and the interest had extended to nearly every member 
of the Academy. 

The younger of those two boys, after entering the minis- 
try, and soon leaving it for his everlasting rest, was William 
Thurston of Boston ; the other was John Pike, for twenty- 
five years past the honored Pastor of the Church in Rowley. 

I hardly need to say to those who have known him since that 
eventful day, that the conversion of my early friend and school- 
mate, Pike, was a decided one. So far as I know, he had pre- 
viously been correct in his external deportment, and had been 
kept in an unusual degree, from the common vices and follies of 
youth. But the change in him, nevertheless, was a very marked 
one. From that time he seemed to be, in all respects, a man. 
Divine grace made him a different, a new being. Earnestly, 
yet kindly and prudently, he at once sought to make himself use- 
ful by his exhortations and prayers in our little meetings and by 
his private conversations with his fellow students. And many 
could testify to-day to his affeetionate perseverance in these la- 
bors of love. 

After being associated with Brother Pike again at the Theo- 
logical Seminary, and then separated for some years, my ac- 
quaintance was renewed eleven years ago, when I became a pas- 
tor in the Essex North Conference, and has been continued 
more pleasantly than ever, from that time until now. During 
these last years of acquaintance, I have often rejoiced to recog- 
nise the fact that, in the best sense of the oft -quoted words, the 
christian "child was the father of the man." I have rejoiced 
also to find, as I expected to find, that his people and his breth- 
ren confide in him. He is worthy of their, and of our confi- 
dence. I congratulate his people that they are permitted to cel- 
ebrate the "-Silver" anniversary of a pastorate so genial, so 
faithful, so successful. I am thankful that the opening of the 
mature manhood of my boyhood's friend has been given to one 
and the same field of ministerial labor among a people who have 
appreciated and loved him. And I here close my remarks by 
the expression of my prayer, that he may live to celebrate the 
wt Golden " anniversary of his connection with the Church and 
people of Rowley. 

Mr. Coggin. — There is one whom we should all have been 
delighted to see on this occasion, who is now in a higher sphere ; 



51 

©ne whose name is very fragrant in this community, and who, 
till the day of his death, was a warm friend of his Pastor, — 
the sainted Deacon Jewett. 

The Choir sung the Dirge — ■"■ Rest, Spirit, Rest." 
Mr. Coggin. — We are so fortunate as to have with us to- 
day another representative of Bowdoin College, President of 
the Board of Overseers of that Institution, who will be able to 
speak of the reputation which the Pastor of this flock has in 
that literary community. Shall we have the pleasure of listen- 
ing to the Hon, Mr. Benson, of Wenham ? 

HON. MR. BENSON'S ADDRESS. 

Mr. Chairman : — Your allusion to Bowdoin College reminds 
me of an incident at the last Commencement. You will re- 
member that Gen. Grant was present, and received the degree 
of LL.D. On Commencement evening, a met ting was held to 
welcome home the Sons of Bowdoin, who had honorably served 
their country in the recent rebellion. It was a most interesting 
occasion; among the many complimentary speeches, one was 
made by Gen. Chamberlain, who had himself left a Professor's 
Chair in that College, and having served in the war with dis- 
tinguished ability and fidelity, had just returned to his post with 
honorable scars and an unhealed wound. In the course of his 
remarks, after alluding to the brave Bowdoin Boys as they de- 
served, he turned to Gen. Grant, and said, " Gentlemen, you see 
before you the foremost man in the world." Mrs. Grant, sitting 
directly in front of me on the stage, turned round and said, 
" they can't hurt my husband, but I do fear their compliments 
to him will spoil me." 

Making the application, Sir, (addressing Mr. Pike,) I am 
■confident these flatteries will not hurt you; and if the toast of 
your classmate Harris has proved prophetic in your case, as 
preceding speakers testify, and we all here agree, neither is there 
any danger of their spoiling your good wife. No, Mr. Chair- 
man, there is no danger to either ; and it is fitting and proper 
on this twenty-fifth anniversary of Mr. Pike's settlement, that 
the truth should be spoken to him and of him. My acquaint- 
ance with him began when he was on his way to the Commence- 
ment at Brunswick. He was received there with open arms, 
and was called to make the prayer, introductory to the exercises 
of the day. Since that time, I think I have had the pleasure 
of meeting him each succeeding Commencement, and for the 
last three years as a worthy member of the Board of Overseers, 
and more than once he has performed Chaplain services during 



5:2 

Commencement week. How well he discharged this duty it is 
not necessary to state here, where he has ministered in the sa- 
ered desk so ably and so long. 

All the speakers who have preceded me have been Clergymen,, 
except my friend, the excellent County Treasurer, and he was- 
" prepared ta enter the ministry with nattering prospects of 
success." They would not, perhaps, speak of the influence of 
their profession upon the welfare of society with the same free- 
dom that I can, who am neither a minister, nor the son of a 
minister, though 1 claim to be of Puritan stock, my father hav- 
ing been born in Plymouth County, almost in sight of Plymouth- 
Rock ! 

The influence of a good minister upon the temporal as well' 
as spiritual welfare of society, who can estimate ? His station 
and character impose upon him the duties of a good citizen, 
and an active, public-spirited man. The cause of temperance 
claims him for an advocate and a worker — he must attend the 
meetings, and his voice must be heard, not only in prayer, but on 
the platform. In education, he must be a leader, always ready 
to visit the schools, and in every way promote their improve- 
ment. And in all reforms, in everything advancing the pro- 
gress of the race, he must be a pioneer. Such men stamp 
their "image and superscription " upon the people where they 
dwell. Their names become historic, and communities so bless- 
ed become beacon lights to the world. 

Dr. Withington in Newbury ; Dr. Parish in Byfield ; Dr. 
Thurston in Winthrop, my own minister for more than forty 
years \ Dr. Emmons in Franklin ; and if Bowdoin College does 
its duty, may I not in this presence add, Doctor Pike in Row- 
ley, are ample proofs of the value of the ministry — alike hon- 
orable to pastor and to people 

Mr. Chairman, the long and happy union, this day celebrated, 
has made its record on earthy and in heaven. When Plutarch 
was asked why he lived in a small town — "To keep it from 
growing smaller still " — was his reply. This honored preacher 
has closed his ear to the invitations of a wider ambition, and 
here has wrought for God and his fellow men. May the blessing 
of God and his -fellow men attend him till his minister 
shall close, and his people be gathered with him before the 
throne. 

Mr. Coggin. — I notice here to-day a semper paratzis man, 
who was a particular acquaintance and friend of our brother 
Pike at Andover, whose voice and countenance are so familiar 
in all our churches, and whom we all love to welcome to our 



53 

homes. Will the Rev. Mr. Butler, agent of the American Bi- 
ble Society, please to favor us with some remarks ? 

REV. MR. BUTLER'S ADDRESS. 

I have been struck with the divergence, apparent, between 
the profession and practice of those who have preceded me. 
All have avowed their love of Puritanism, and their belief of 
its doctrines. One of them has even expressed a wish that the 
Assembly's Shorter Catechism might be received by all our 
churches, with no qualifications or reservations, whatever. Now 
this book asserts that " no mere man is, in this life, able, per- 
fectly, to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break 
them, in thought, word, and deed." But their speeches have 
left the impression that our brother is quite without the taint 
received from our first parents. This impression I felt bound 
to correct, both from a regard to truth, and to the faith of the 
fathers, A traveller in Connecticut, called for dinner at a hotel 
in the country, and while his horse was resting, strolled into the 
burying ground ; returning to the landlord, he enquired for the 
other burying ground. He was told there was none. " This is 
impossible," he replied ; "all the people buried there are good 
people." Being assured that there was no other, he went back, 
and with his pencil wrote on the gate, "Here lie the dead, and 
here the living lie !" 

The favorable opinions expressed here, have been formed 
from their personal recollections of their friend. I can furnish 
from my acquaintance, incidents, which to me, at the time of 
their occurrence, had another look. When we were students at 
Andover, I once took part in a debate, of the Porter Rhetorical 
Society. The interest felt in the subject, had crowded the 
chapel. I had the best side of the question, and my carefully 
prepared speech, had evidently greatly impressed the audience. 
Smiles, and nods of approval greeted me, as I retired to my seat, 
and the truth seemed about to triumph, when my brother Pike 
arose. In grave and most solemn utterance, he censured the 
unseemly levity of the last speaker, and by a mere artifice of 
rhetoric, persuaded the audience that they had done wrong in 
allowing themselves to laugh on such an occasion, and still more, 
to be influenced by what had been said, till a good cause was 
lost, and a most excellent speech fatally upset. After such 
treatment, I cannot allow that your friend furnished any excep- 
tion to the statement in the catechism, notwithstanding all that 
has been advanced to the contrary. 

It gives me sincere pleasure to join in the festivities of an 
occasion, unhappily, very rare in our times. The Chinese are 
said to plant their trees in tubs, so that they can be moved 



54 

about at will. The trees of the Lord, as ministers are some- 
times called, are planted very much in the same way, ready to 
be moved when the occasion comes. Here is one who has been 
planted in the courts of the Lord, and allowed for a quarter of 
a century to send out its roots into a congenial, and friendly 
soil. It is not easy to conceive a condition more desirable than 
is his. who is thus permitted to pass through life. The friend 
and guide of one people, the field of his labor ever the same, 
and the fruits of that labor ever before him ; the minds of the 
people shaped by the teaching of years, till feelings and inter- 
ests become identical, and acquaintance has ripened into a 
friendship, which shall know no end. Hence, congratulations 
are most appropriate to pastor and people ; and we give heart- 
felt thanks to Him who allows us to witness an occasion so full 
of interest. 

Rev. Dr. Fiske of Newburyport was introduced, and made 
some remarks, which he informs us cannot be sufficiently recalled 
to be submitted for publication. 

Me. Coggin. — I have on my list the names of several other 
gentlemen — clergymen and laymen — some of them natives of 
this vicinity, some of them from a distance, but all intimate 
with our brother, whom we had hoped to hear ; but the want 
of time will deprive us of the privilege. We exceedingly 
regret that it is so. Some of them will probably be present at 
the evening gathering, and will then favor us with some re- 
marks. I have also several letters committed to me to be read, 
but so long a time has been occupied, that we must be denied 
the pleasure of hearing them. 

At this stage of the proceedings the choir sung " Majesty," 
"Bridgewater," and " Calvary," with much of the energy and 
enthusiasm with which they so often inspired the fathers. 

Mr. Coggin. — I am informed that the Chairman of the 
Committe of Arrangements has something which he would now 
like to say to the Pastor. 

MR. SMITH'S ADDRESS. 

Beloved Pastor and Friend : — I can most truly address you 
as such personally, and I believe as truly in behalf of those 
whom I represent. 

This, Sir, is a deeply interesting occasion to you and to us. 
Twenty-five years of the prime of your life you have labored 



55 

for, and identified yourself with, the temporal and spiritual in- 
terests of this Church and Society, rejoicing with those who 
have rejoiced, and weeping with those who have wept. All 
classes have, alike, received your sincere sympathy and counsel. 
For your faithfulness, and that of your beloved partner, we owe 
you a debt of gratitude, we cannot pay ; but I have the pleas- 
ure ai this time, in behalf of the Ladies and Gentlemen of your 
Society, to hand you a slight testimonial of our appreciation of 
your labors ; praying that our connection in the future may be 
as happy and prosperous as it has been in the past. 

To this address, Rev. Mr. Pike replied : — 

I thank you for the offering you make from my congregation. 
Whatever it may be, I am sure it is an appropriate representa- 
tive of that public generosity, which has attended me for twen- 
ty-five years. The salary and presents of a rural congregation 
sometimes unfavorably contrast with those of the metropolitan 
churches. It may be, however, that the Master who stands over 
against the treasury, and all, who take their thoughts from the 
Master's mind, understand that the hard earnings of the home 
soil so freely given, are far greater than those, which flowing 
rapidly and easily from the commerce of the seas and the re- 
turns of trade, are readily resigned. 

The worth of this occasion, my dear Sir, you have not mag- 
nified. There has been no opportunity for it in your ecclesias- 
tical history since the days of Jewett, 1754. Such a day, prob- 
ably, not more than five out of every hundred of the churches 
of Massachusetts are permitted to see, and we could hardly have 
expected that we should have been permitted to see it. I found 
you, on the morning of my installation, just recovering from the 
shock which the dismissal of a minister often occasions ; and 
you found me a child, with judgment immature, and impulses 
that often outran all that is consistent with the happy ordering 
of a people who have been doubtful whether their homage is 
appropriate to the setting sun, when they give it in any degr3e, 
to the sun that is rising. But from the difficulties that attend 
the dissolution of an old bond, and the deeper difficulties that 
come from the abandonment of an old meeting-house, you have 
risen like a vessel at sea, true to her helm, and been for years 
in the beautiful quiet, which sometimes follows a parish storm. 
You have borne with me, and I have borne with you, each un- 
derstanding his appropriate sphere, and working independently, 
to perpetuate the bond which twenty-five years ago was formed. 
God has smiled upon my toil, as he seems to have smiled on this 
day, by scattering the clouds of yesterday, and I join with the 



56 

Apostle, saying, "Having obtained help of God, I continue unto 
this day." 

What to say of the future, my dear Sir, I know not. The 
wishes of this occasion will certainly be realized, if eifort on 
my part to do you good, is availing. I know not, now, why this 
occasion should not follow us with its pleasant remembrances, 
till we reach that golden period, whose celebration, death alone 
denied you. in the case of Rogers, Phillips, Shepard, Payson, 
Jewett, and Bradford. The infirmities with which I started 
have left me, and I am no longer dependent upon my excellent 
wife, who spent the early years in writing the sermons which I 
could not write, and reading the publications I could not read, 
and to whose patient toil, many of your Sabbath blessings are 
indebted. Many of my people are waiting for me on the other 
side of the river, while you strongly retain me here ; so that I 
am " in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, nev- 
ertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." I 
have made many resolutions of faithfulness to-day, but I think 
one of the best of them is, that I will not be very confident that 
I shall keep all, or any of them. I trust entirely in the God of 
heaven, commending to Him both you and myself, that He may 
bind us together, as long as we can forward His great purposes, 
and separate us when we can be more to His praise in any other 
connection on earth, or amid those who have gone before us into 
heaven. 

Me. Coggin. — There are some young ladies, Mr. Pike, who 
would like to speak to you. 

Miss Susan H. Cressy and Miss Clara J. Todd came for- 
ward with an elegant silver pitcher and salver, on which was in- 
scribed, "Presented to Mr. and Mrs. Pike, by the young ladies 
of his Society, Nov. 22, 1865." 

In behalf of the young ladies, Miss Cressy thus addressed 
her pastor : — 

I am requested, Mr. Pike, by the young ladies of your soci- 
ety, to express to you our gratitude, that, from our earliest recol- 
lections, wp have had the privilege of loving and honoring so 
faithful a Pastor and friend, and we desire that this privilege 
may continue through all the future years of your ministry. 

As a token of our deep regard, we present to you and Mrs. 
Pike, this pitcher and salver. We give it, not as the measure, 
but the expression of our regard ; believing that when the 
" chief Shepherd shall appear you shall each receive a crown of 
glory which fadeth not away." 

To this address Rev Mr. Pike replied : — 

It is a surprise to find you separated thus from the rest of the 



57 

congregation in your attentions to me ; yet, perhaps, it is well. 
You and your associates seem very near to me ; not only from your 
own personal worth, but from the fact that through you, I may 
reach the parents, brothers, and friends, who will yield to your 
affectionate entreaties quicker than to mine. The wives and 
mothers of my congregation have often been imported from 
other places : they have worked easily, and naturally, into our 
modes of doing, more especially, when they have been trained, 
as some of them have, under the accomplished mind, and pure 
heart, which has presided over this assembly. When, however, 
I consider the native beauty and excellence, which ornament 
our homes, and animate our social circles, I can but wonder 
that our men should ever think of going to reap their life-har- 
vests in foreign fields. My fear is that you will continue your 
habit of going away to do life's work, and become the rich or- 
nament of other churches, and the delight of other pastors, to 
the great loss of the place of your nativity, and the pastor whose 
anniversary you have made so happy. But whether you go or 
stay, my blessing is with you, as it may well be with those who 
give so signal and early a proof that they will be among the 
number over whom the blessed Saviour will say, with promise, 
" He that receiveth you receiveth me." 

Accept my thanks for your beautiful gifts. I will place them 
among the treasured things of my home, and as I look upon 
them, will lift my prayer to Him, who, I trust, has prompted you 
to this kind of remembrance of his servant, that He will cover 
you with a brilliancy richer than that oi your gifts, and give 
you a nobler array than that of princes, " even the ornament of 
a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great 
price." 

Mr. Coggin. — A little boy, Mr. Pike, wishes to see you. 

Joseph L. Hale, of six years of age, came with two silver gob- 
lets on a salver, having a similar inscription to that just men- 
tioned, saying, " Mr. Pike, please accept this from the little 
ones." 

Rev. Mr. Pike's reply : — 

My dear child : — You have well said what you have. You 
mean to say by these beautiful things how much you, and those 
whom you represent, love me. They will be the signals that 
the generation over which it shall be said they " knew not Jo- 
seph" is yet unborn. They shall be put with the treasured 
things that have come down from my ancestry, and when I look 
at them, I shall lift up my prayer, that he who rejoiced so much 
that " out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God has or- 



58 

Gained praise/' will take you one day, to the living fountains of 
waters,, so that you may drink, and never thirst again. 

TelLthem all, my little child, that a warm love for them is in 
my heart, and that I long to lead them to that Saviour, who 
will give them thoughts, brighter than silver? and feelings, purer 
than gold. I am glad that you share so largely in this silver 
wedding. Remember, and always love this church and society,, 
which, like a tender parent, will guide you into all truth. You 
are to constitute the congregation of the future, and to sing 
these songs, and listen to these pulpit sayings,, when we have 
gone to join the assembly of which many children like your- 
selves make a part. 

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, watch over you, the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ wash you in his blood r 
and the blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost, be and abide with you forever. 

The Ptev. Mr. Southgate, of Ipswich, was then called upon to 
offer prayer, after which the choir sang a parting hymn, — " Dear 
Brethren we shall meet again," and thus ended the interesting 
exercises- of the morning. 

The envelope from Mr. Smith contained four hundred dollars. 
During the morning, there were valuable presents sent to the 
pastor, by individuals from his own society, and from those who* 
came up to join in the celebration, which he gratefully ack- 
nowledged. 



COLLATION. 

The services being closed, the guests were invited to the 
Town Hall, where careful hands and warm hearts had provided 
an excellent collation. The good things of the table repeatedly 
occasioned the remark, that a people who could treat their com- 
pany so well, might, reasonably, expect that a minister would be 
prompted to stay with them for twenty-five years. The Hall 
was admirably arranged, and the delicacy and . taste displayed 
in its decorations, could hardly be exceeded. The people of the 
town are greatly indebted to the unwearied care, and patient 
toil of several young persons, of both sexes, for that happy ar- 
rangement of the Hall, which drew so many encomiums from 



59 

the visitants. Perhaps the afternoon scene can be no better 
described, than by an extract from the Salem Gazette, Nov. 24, 
1865. 

At the conclusion of the church exercises, the invited guests re- 
paired to the Town Hall, where a most bountiful collation was 
served up, which comprised. a great variety of good things which 
would have done credit to a metropolitan establishment. Rev. Dr. 
Hooker, Secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, 
asked the divine blessing. The hall was tastefully arranged and 
decorated with evergreen wreaths and boughs, which were arrang- 
ed at the head of the hall in the form of an arch. A wreath was 
suspended at each of the eight windows, and a festoon of evergreen 
around the upper part of the four walls. At the head of the hall 
was an excellent painted portrait of the late Deacon Joshua Jewett, 
who died a few years since, and who is remembered by those who 
attended the Jewett gathering, some years ago, as the venerable 
man who " deaconed off ye hymn " in the manner of the olden 
time. The portrait was surrounded by evergreen, arranged in the 
form of a shield, and over it was the inscription, " He being dead 
yet speaketh." Over the arch, and on the platform was entwined 
an American flag with the inscription, " The choice of the fathers 
[1840] is this day [1865], confirmed by the children." On the side 
walls near the head of the hall, were the mottoes, " New England 
venerates her clergy,'' and "The faithful shepherd of a united 
flock." On the walls were also suspended pictures representing 
"Christ blessing little children," The Crucifix, and " Evangeline.*' 
The tables were ornamented with bouquets ; and an evergreen chan- 
delier, which was lighted in the evening, was suspended from the 
centre of the ceiling. 



EVENING GATHERING. 

The hall was crowded. It was a social scene, in which the 
pastor and people indulged in pleasant reminiscences, and gave 
themselves up to happy anticipations. The sociality of former 
days is often undervalued in our rural town, or rapidly degen- 
erates into those amusements, which the highest taste, and the 
most ardent piety disown. It was to revive the social element, 
in its simplest, happiest form, that the evening meeting was ap- 
pointed. The free conversation was followed by songs from the 
choir, such as "All Together," and "On, on, the Boys are 
Marching," also a sentimental song by Mr. D. H. Sanders, arid 



60 

a piece entitled "The Beautiful Dreamer/' by Mrs. Howe. Af- 
ter the attractive singing, Rev. Mr. Coggin resumed his duties 
as Chairman, saying, — 

I am happy to see here this evening some of those gentlemen 
whom we should have been pleased to hear this morning, if 
time had permitted. Among them, f notice one, who formerly 
resided, and preached in this town, a friend of your Pastor, as 
I doubt not, he is of you all. Will the Rev. Mr. Pasco favor 
us with some remarks : 

REV. MR. PASCO'S ADDRESS. 

It gives me great pleasure to be present, and to participate in 
these interesting services. It has seemed most appropriate to 
me on such a rare occasion, that these brethren, members of 
Council at the Installation, these classmates and college associ - 
ates, and neighboring pastors, should utter their words of con- 
gratulation and suggestive reminiscences I, also, would bring 
to this altar of christian friendship, my humble offering, with 
an equal sense of appreciation, and warmth of cordialitv. 

All these tokens of the mutual love of pastor and people, 
which I have witnessed to-day, give me pleasure. I am glad to 
read the mottoes among the tasteful decorations of this hall : 
" A Faithful Pastor and a United Flock," 4i New England ven- 
erates her Clergy," connected by the legend over my head, so- 
worthily expressive of the natural result. "The choice of the 
Fathers is this day confirmed by their Children/* 

My friends, you do well to love your worthy Pastor. I have 
read, I think, in some good book, that a loved name is " like 
ointment poured forth."' The excellency and worth of a good 
man spread their fragrance beyond any narrow limits. An able 
minister of the gospel, however warmly he may, and ought to be 
cherished by his own flock, and his own ecclesiastical associa- 
tions, belongs not alone to them, but to the world, into which 
the Master has sent him. 

For nearly seven of the first years of this happily prolonged 
pastorate, it was my lot to labor in the neighboring church of 
another denomination. These congregations are not only con- 
tiguous but intermingled. I recall the intercourse of those 
years with only pleasing memories. A christian life, — pastoral 
fidelity, — ministerial courtesy, —kindness and geniality, are, in 
these memories, synonymous terms with the name of your 
Pas', or. 

Though I love the brethren of my own denomination, with 
whom I esteem it an honor to associate, it is not invidious for 



61 

me to say that for no one more than for your pastor, have I ever 
continued to cherish a most cordial personal friendship. 

What changes these twenty-five years have wrought ! I can 
but think this night of many whom I once knew here, that 
were active and honored, but who have passed away. Of these, 
none is more conspicuous than the venerated man, whose por- 
trait hangs behind me. The fathers are gone, and others have 
come to fill their places. When we think of these long-contin- 
ued years of sound instruction and faithful labor, what suitable 
estimate can we form of their value and of their ultimate re- 
sults ? 

How suitable, as we stand looking back on the past, thankful 
for its blessings, that the most earnest longings should be turned 
also to the future. How anxiously should each one, henceforth, 
srrive to attain the spiritual benefits which the ministry is de- 
signed to confer ! Should this pastorate be prolonged, as we 
hope it will, for another twenty-five years, and other harvests be 
o-athered into the granary of the Lord, who of all this number 
present will then be spared to gather around with fitting words 
of congratulation ? But there will be a glorious meeting in 
the future. All the services consecrated to the Master, all the 
fruits o-athered to his glory will pass in review. In that world 
of the blessed, may you all meet, redeemed by the precious 
blood of Christ ! 

I am most happy to have been permitted to join with you on 
this interesting occasion, and to give utterance, however imper- 
fectlv, to my feelings of regard for your pastor, and my best 
wishes for your most abundant, spiritual prosperity. 

Mr. Coggix. — I am glad to see on this occasion, a classmate 
of the pastor, to whom we had not the pleasure of listening 
this morning. He, without doubt, can bear testimony similar 
to that which others have borne respecting my brother Pike 
in the interesting and formative period of his College life, and 
will be able to tell us whether the opinion, which was then 
formed of him, corresponded with the success he has had in his 
professional life. I am happy to introduce to the audience the 
Rev. Mr. Seabury, of Falmouth. 

REV. MR. SEABURYS ADDRESS. 

It must be a very comfortable feeling to any one, that he be- 
longs somewhere and to somebody, and that somebody belongs to 
him. I think my old friend and classmate must have been 
made fully sensible to-day, that such is his enviable condition. 



62 

He is the only one of our class, I believe, who has remained 
fixedly and unchangeably at the same post, for a quarter of a 
Century. Evidence of the benefits of such permanency, is all 
around us. Such friendships, such fond attachments, and such 
cemented hearts are the work of time. 

It has been beautifully said " that the moving sands are an 
eternal desert." But give to these waste places quiet, and lit- 
tle by little, life lays hold upon them, gathers strength day by 
day, and in process of time, the polished rock is clothed with 
a fruitful soil, the flinty sands are decomposed into richness, 
and the barren desert smiles with living beauty. Has it not 
been so here, as the result of years of quiet and of careful and 
continuous culture ? 

I have been looking for some of the reasons of the length of 
this Pastorate. One gentleman who sat near me in this Hall 
to-day, and while we were partaking of the rich and beautiful 
repast, said, i4 If this is such provision as is made for the tem- 
poral wants of the minister, it is not strange that he has re- 
mained here so long " I fully accorded with that view of the 
subject, but said to myself, every one to his taste ; and there 
are some things that I often enjoy more than a good dinner. 
For I had been thinking while listening to the excellent singing 
on this occasion — " I don't wonder Brother Pike has remained 
here so long, for a good choir, and good singing have much to do 
in making any ministry, a permanent, happy, and useful one." 

Mr. and Mrs. Pike have been spoken of to-day in connection 
with Gen. and Mrs. Grant. I will venture another allusion to 
the Lieut. General. During one of the darkest periods of the war, 
some one asked Mrs. Grant if she did n't almost despair of the 
General's success ? " O no ! " she replied, "Mr. Grant was al- 
ways a very obstinate man, and I have no doubt he will carry it 
through ! " 1 think your pastor has some of the same kind of 
persistency, which leads him to carry through whatever he un- 
dertakes. The class meeting of 1863 — so fully attended, yet 
secured through many difficulties — will be a grateful memorial to 
his classmates, that he never abandons a good thing till it is 
accomplished. 

Another reason for the length of this pastorate is, in my opin- 
ion, the fact that a pleasant home has been furnished to your 
pastor, and that he has one by his side, who has been truly a 
help-meet, being ready not only to provide for his material 
wants, but glad to assist in his intellectual labors, when he has 
been unable to pursue them alone. 

It has been exceedingly grateful to me to participate in these 
interesting services, and to witness honors, so worthily conferred 
on your beloved pastor, and our beloved classmate. Long may 



63 

this happy relation exist, to the mutual profit of pastor and 
people. 

Me. Cogghst. — It was a matter of regret that we were obliged 
to limit the speakers this morning to a few minutes, only. 
While we wish that they all could have had more time, there 
was one, especially, to whom we could have listened much long- 
er — one, whose resources, it is difficult to exhaust. I am glad 
to see that he is with us this evening. Will the Rev. Mr. 
Butler gratify us with a few more remarks ? 

REV. MR. BUTLER'S ADDRESS. 

I must apologize to the audience for my second appearance 
this day, which is treating you to cold victuals. I feel, too, 
unwilling to interrupt the social feeling now in full play, and 
am sure that those before me can entertain each other far 
better than I can. The occasion is one of great interest to you 
all, since it is connected with your church privileges, the 
value of which to you, everyway, cannot be overestimated. 
In looking back upon my early life, my memory fastens upon 
two places, — the home where I lived, and the Sanctuary where 
1 worshipped. No picture of childhood is complete from which 
the Sanctuary is excluded. A person brought up without a 
place of worship could not be said to have any native place. 
All that could be said is that there was a place where one part 
of his being began to exist. I have noticed, too, that families 
without religious culture are apt to run out, pass away like 
summer brooks. I congratulate the people on the harmony and 
prosperity they have enjoyed, and hope that it is the earnest of 
blessings yet to come. 

Mr Coggin. — You are always pleased, I have no doubt, to 
hear your pastor. If he is not too much fatigued by the exer- 
cises and excitement of the day, it will afford us much pleasure 
to listen to a few words from him ; after which you can return 
to conversation and music. 

REV. MR. PIKE'S ADDRESS. 

My beloved friends : — I hardly know what to say this even- 
ing. My mind is confused amid the testimonials of this day. 
What to think of myself amid these many favorable opinions 
of others, I cannot tell. When the scene is over, I shall come 
back to that moderate opinion of myself, which is my due, while 



64 

I shall retain that elevated opinion of you, to which the gifts 
and sayings, and multiplied other good works of this occasion, 
have given rise. 

Permit me to say that you have done your work so well, it 
could hardly be mended. I know of nothing to be altered, if 
we were called to renew the joyous scene. The toil of weeks 
in preparation, — the choice gifts which you have secured for 
me, — the touching sayings which have come from the older and 
the younger, — the beautiful array of this hall, the taste and 
delicacy of which could not be exceeded, — the rich bounties 
with which you have fed our guests, — the happy faces, and warm 
hearts, and glad songs and converse of this evening, prompt me 
to pledge renewedly the mind, the heart, the influence, which 
were so cheerfully given you November 18, 1840. With these 
few remarks I leave you to renew your social joys. 

After these sayings, the company returned to the social con- 
verse with which the evening began, and continued it till 10 
o'clock, when the Pastor commended the people to God in 
prayer, and asked that the friendly union, celebrated on that day, 
might be perpetuated amid higher and better scenes, after it 
had accomplished on earth its great object of bringing them 
and him nearer to Christ. The singing of " Old Hundred " 
closed the evening scene of a day, long to be remembered. 

Several letters were received from gentlemen who were not 
able to join in the services. The Chairman of the committee 
has selected the following from them, for publication. 



LETTERS. 

[Fron Leonard Woods, D. D., Bowdoin College.'] 

Bowdoin College, Bkunswick, Nov. 10, 1865. 
To Ben j. H. Smith, Esq., Chairman of the Committee. 

My Dear Sie. : — I am very sorry, that engagements con- 
nected with the close of our College Term, will render it im- 
possible for me to be present at the celebration on the 22nd 
instant, of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the settlement with 
you of our esteemed alumnus, and your honored Pastor, the 
Rev. John Pike. It would give me the greatest pleasure to 
join in all the acts by which the ancient Church in Rowley will 
show its love and respect for its minister, after his faithful ser- 



65 

vice of a quarter of a century. I should be glad to have op- 
portunity to express on this occasion the deep interest which is 
felt by his alma mater in so successful a ministry, through so 
long a period, of one of her most dutiful and honored sons, and 
also to express my own personal regard for him. Although I 
cannot be present, I beg- leave to send to Mr. Pike, through you, 
the hearty congratulations of all his friends here, and to assure 
him that we deeply sympathize with the honorary services which 
you propose to render him. 

Hoping that the sacred ties which have lasted so long be- 
tween you and your Pastor, may remain unbroken for many 
years to come, 

I remain truly yours, &c, 

Leonard Woods, 



[From Hon. Wm. H. Allen, Belief ont, Pa.] 

Agricultural College, 
Centre County, Pa., November 15, 1865. 

Dear Sir : — I have the pleasure to acknowledge your letter 
of November 8th, inviting me to join in the celebration, by the 
Congregational Church and Society at Rowley, of the 25th 
Anniversary of the Pastorate of my beloved classmate, Rev. 
John Pike. 

I regret that my engagements will not permit me to be pres- 
ent on that interesting occasion ; for it would give me much 
pleasure to make the acquaintance of a people, and to renew 
my friendship for a pastor, whose relations, in these times of 
change, have been unbroken for a quarter of a century. 

I should be gratified to listen to the expression of those 
kindly sentiments which will, doubtless, cement still more firmly 
the mutual affection and confidence of pastor and flock, and 
render them indissoluble, except by that event which sunders 
all ties but those of memory. 

Permit me to offer a sentiment : 

The Pastor and Church at Rowley. — As they celebrate 
their silver wedding on November 22, 1865, so may both bride and 
groom survive to celebrate their golden one on Nov. 22, 1890. 

With congratulations to my friend, your faithful pastor, 

I remain, very respectfully yours, 

Wm. H. Allen. 

Benj. H. Smith, Esq., Chairman of Committe. 



66* 

[From Wm. Smyth r D. D., Bowdoin College.'] 

Brtjnswick, Nov. 20, 1865. 
Mr. B. H. Smith. 

Dear Sir : — I take the first opportunity to reply to your 
favor of the 8th instant, which was received here during my 
absence from College. 

I regret that my College engagements will not permit me to 
comply with your polite invitation. Be assured that among 
the sons of the College, occupying prominent positions, and 
fulfilling well their course, no one is held by us in higher es- 
timation than your excellent and honored Pastor. We sympa- 
thize deeply in the honorary service you propose to render to 
him, and trust that the occasion will be one of as much inter- 
est and pleasure to his people, as I am certain it will be of 
high "gratification to him. 

Prof. Sewall, I am happy to learn, will be present, and will, 
I have no doubt, represent the College. Repeating my regret 
that I cannot myself, personally, participate in the service and 
pleasures of the day, 

I am, very respectfully yours. 

Wm. Smyth. 



[From Henry B. Smith, D. D., Union Theological Seminary.] 

New York, Nov. 18. 1865. 
Benj. EL Smith, Esq., Chairman, &c. 

My Dear Sir : — I am very much obliged to the Committee 
of your church for the invitation to be present at the 25th an- 
niversary of your pastor's settlement. My engagements at the 
Seminary will prevent me from being present. 

But I may, at least, congratulate both Pastor and people 
upon the occurrence of an anniversary fraught with so many 
solemn and grateful memories and associations. A useful and 
honorable pastorale of a quarter of a century, in the midst of 
so many itinerant ministries, is, in itself, a high testimonial to 
the worth and steadfastness of both Pastor and people. 

Your Pastor is among my old and valued friends. It is a 
friendship, whose advantages to me I gratefully record, which 
began in our college days, and which has never been inter- 
rupted. Its foundation, I trust, is not in personal regard alone, 
but also in our fellowship in the fundamental facts and truths- 
of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

A-llow me to express to your reverend pastor, and to your 
time honored church, my hearty sympathy with the memories 



67 

and hopes of this auspicious occasion. He has trained one 
generation of church- members from childhood to maturity ; 
may he live to train up yet another, not only for usefulness here, 
but for glory, honor and immortality, hereafter. So shall pastor 
and people meet again at a better festival in an eternal home. 
Yours, most truly, 

In the bonds of our common faith, 

Henry B. Smith. 



[From the Rev. George W. Cressey, Buxton Centre. Me.~\ 

Buxton Centre, Nov. 11th, 1865, 
Capt. B. H, Smith. 

Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 8th instant was duly received. 
The event, it is proposed to celebrate, is latterly of such rare 
occurrence, that it well deserves a suitable recognition. 

It would give me great pleasure to comply with your kind 
and cordial invitation to be present, and participate in the privi- 
leges of the occasion. 

But, as circumstances may prevent, permit me, through you, 
as chairman of the committee of arrangements, to congratulate 
the church and parish in having the present mutual and endear- 
ing relation of pastor and people so long and so happily pro- 
tracted. Let me also assure them of my deep and growing in- 
terest in their pastor, as a brother whom I first began to love 
in the classic halls of Bowdoin, and on the sacred mount of 
Andover. 

With the ancient church of my native place are associated 
the warmth and ardor of my first love. Many, also, near and 
dear to me, either now enjoy, or have enjoyed, her inestimable 
privileges. 

Praying that peace may long be within her walls, and pros- 
perity within her palaces, 

I remain, yours very truly, 

George W. Cressey. 



\_From Samuel Harris, D. D., Bangor Theological Seminary. ~\ 

Bangor, Nov. 11, 1865. 
B. H. Smith, Esq., 

My Dear Sir : — Your letter of the 8th instant, inviting me 
to atttend the twenty-fifth anniversary of Rev. J. Pike's set- 
tlement at Rowley was duly received. It is against the strong- 
est desires of my heart to decline, yet I find myself unable to 
be present. Permit me, through you, to offer my congratula- 



68 

tions to his people that they have enjoyed for a quarter of a 
century, the ministry of so able and excellent a man, and also to 
Mr. Pike for the happiness and success of his ministry. 

I was a classmate of Mr. Pike in college. We became inti- 
mate at once, and ever since, I have esteemed, trusted and 
loved him, as a true and faithful friend, a noble and large 
hearted man, and a brother beloved in Christ. In college he 
ranked high as a scholar, and high as a christian. Young as 
he was, no man in college lived a more consistent christian 
life, or was more thoroughly respected by all for christian' con- 
scientiousness and consistency. I remember the interest, which, 
during our first year, he evinced in my spiritual welfare ; for I 
then had not the christian hope. And though I turned him off 
with seeming levity, the levity was only seeming ; and I have 
never ceased to honor him for his faithfulness, and to feel grate- 
ful to him for his hearty interest. Then came the great revival 
in our Sophomore year, when so many of us began the christian 
life. Who that participated in it, can ever forget its solemn, 
affecting, and life-giving hours ? 

I wish I could be with you, and join with you all in the S3r- 
vices of this interesting occasion. May God's best blessings- 
rest on your worthy pastor and his wife, and on all his people, 
all of whom I know he earnestly loves, as a faithful pastor 
should. 

With much respect, sincerly yours, 

Samuel Harris. 



\_From Wm. G. Lambert, Esq., Neiu York.j 

New York, Nov. 18, 1865. 
Ben j. H. Smith, Esq., Chairman, &c, Rowley, Mass. 

Dear Sir : — I had intended to be present at the celebration 
of the Rev. John Pike's twenty-five years' pastorate, on the 
twenty-second, but unexpected hindrances will prevent the an- 
ticipated pleasure. 

My ancestors, on the side, both of my father and of my mother, 
were among the earliest settlers in Rowley ; and their descend- 
ants have been found there to the present time. 

It having, also, been the place of my nativity, and of my ear- 
lier years ; and where so many of my friends and kindred 
dwell, I have an abiding interest in the welfare and good name 
of the ancient church and society, and of their present excel- 
lent minister. 

I congratulate the pastor, and the church and society, that 
in this period of frequent changes in the pastoral office, their 



69 

harmonious connection has continued so long. It is, alike, hon- 
orable to minister and people. May these sacred relations long 
continue ! 

I renew my thanks for your invitation, and very much re- 
gret that I shall be unable to be present on the anticipated in- 
teresting occasion. 

Very respectfully yours, 

Wm. G. Lambert. 



\_Fro7ii Charles Adams, D. D., Jacksonville, 111.'] 

Jacksonville, III., Nov. 14, 1865. 
Eenj. H. Smith, Esq. 

My Dear Sir : — Yours of the 8th is received. Your invi- 
tation to participate in the celebration of the twenty-fifth anni- 
versary of my brother Pike's pastorate at Rowley affects me 
deeply, and I assure you, in all sincerity, that feeling as I do 
feel, were I anywhere within the borders of New England, I 
should be there, at all events. The notice of such an occasion 
awakens a multitude of beautiful associations. I am at once 
carried back to the autumn of 1829, when Pike and I first met 
amid the academic haunts of Bowdoin College. I am recalling 
his first impression upon me, as he stood up to recite. I re- 
member how we gradually approached each other, until we were 
wedded in eternal friendship, and remember that while among 
the younger members of his class, his growth seemed mature 
for his age, and his heart warmed easily and spontaneously, 
toward all his classmates. I am now looking upon his counte- 
nance, so youthful and fresh, and into his eyes so full of light 
and sprightliness. I am listening to his abrupt and hearty 
greeting, as we met here or there, and to his joyous laugh, per- 
haps at my expense. I am still wondering how easily, inde- 
pendently, and pleasantly, he M^ould approach any, and every 
one — how utterly unsuspicious and confiding was he, and how 
much at home he seemed with all of us. Nor have I forgotten 
how straightforward and uniform was his christian character 
along his college life. Though young and comely, and of buoy- 
ant spirits, and pleasing manners and address, no one, amid all 
those years, detected him in a misbehavior, and his college rec- 
ord was pure and beautiful. 

It seemed to be at the instance and efforts of Pike, that, in 
1863, our class rallied to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its 
graduation ; — and he was our leader and master of ceremonies 
on that great occasion, and admirably, indeed, was his part per- 
formed. Since then, I have not seen him, but shall expect to 



70 

salute him in my anticipated visit to New England next sum- 
mer. Meanwhile, the delightful occasion in which you so kind- 
ly invite me to participate will have gone by. May it prove a 
time of very special interest, and as your church and its beloved 
pastor shall continue to walk together, may the relation remain 
prosperous and happy as heretofore, and much more abund- 
antly ! 

I send my most cordial greetings to your beloved pastor, and 
my beloved brother ; and though I cannot be with you with my 
bodily presence, yet my spirit will be lingering there, and seek- 
ing for the blessing of the Highest to crown the interesting 
occasion. Most truly yours, 

C. Adams. 



[From Thomas G. Upham, D. D., Bowdoin College.^ 

Brunswick, Nov. 13, 1865. 
Mr. B. H. Smith. 

Dear Sir : — I thank you very sincerely for the kind invita- 
tion to attend the anniversary of the pastorate of Rev. Mr. 
Pike ; and regret much, that I shall be so situated at that time, 
as to be unable to attend. Mr. Pike is, personally, a highly val- 
ued, and much esteemed friend ; and I hazard nothing in saying 
that all who know him as well as I do, must both esteem him 
and love him. I sympathize most cordially in all the attentions 
and kindness which his people propose to show him on the oc- 
casion of the anniversary ; — a people, who in these transactions 
are showing themselves worthy of their past good history and 
honorable name. With earnest desires, that the divine favor, 
and temporal and spiritual blessings, may rest upon both pasior 
and people, 

I remain, respectfully and sincerely yours, 

Thomas C. Upham. 



[From Daniel S. Talcott, D. D., Bangor Theological Seminary.^ 

Bangor, Nov. 15, 1865. 
Benj. H. Smith, Esq., Chairman of Committee, &c. 

Dear Sir : — It would give me great pleasure to accept, if 
circumstances allowed, the invitation contained in your favor of 
the 8th inst. But our Seminary Term has just commenced, 
and that pleasure I must forego. 

The occasion is one upon which it is surely meet to offer con- 
gratulations to both church and pastor, and most heartily do I 



71 

offer them to both, — to the church, among the most venerable 
in my native county, that it has enjoyed such a ministry, by 
the favor of Providence, so long, — to my old friend, the pastor, 
whom I have known and loved ever since the time that we 
were boys together, that the wisdom has been thus far vouch- 
safed to him, turning a deaf ear to all solicitations from abroad, 
to hold on to Rowley. 

To both church and pastor, are the churches of Massachu- 
setts, the churches of New England, debtors to-day for the ex- 
ample they have set, for the influence they are to-day exerting 
in opposition to tendencies which are full of danger to all that 
we most justly prize Nor does it involve any diminution from 
the praise to which they are entitled, that in setting such an 
example to others, they have been doing the best possible thing 
for themselves, that the church, if it had sought a change would 
have done so at a signal loss, and what I believe to be no less 
true, that my excellent friend, had he years ago transferred him- 
self from this to some larger and more pretentious field of labor, 
would have encountered detriment, not only in point of solid 
comfort, but in respect to all the more essential elements of 
beneficent and enduring influence. 

It is not too much to hope, that those of us who may live to 
see the year 1890 may see the latter, at the close of a half cen- 
tury of labor, still standing at the post he first assumed. And 
let it be the united prayer of all who shall attend this festival, 
that the second great term of service, now commencing, may be 
marked by yet more conclusive proofs of the divine favor than 
the first, and that at the happy end of it, there may not be a 
soul remaining, in respect to whom the pastor will be compelled 
to bear his unwilling testimony that he has labored in vain. 
I am, Dear .Sir, yours with much respect, 

D. Smith Talcott. 



[From the Rev. Benjamin Tap-pan, Norridgeivock, Me.~] 

Norkidgewock, Me., 13 Nov., 1865. 
Deak. Sin : 

My distance from Rowley, and the pressure of home duties 
just now, oblige me to decline your kind invitation. But I do 
none the less sincerely congratulate my friend and classmate, 
Rev. Mr. Pike, on his still remaining so happily with the people, 
over whom he was ordained as pastor twenty-five years ago. I 
congratulate them on being able to retain him so long. The ex- 
cellent qualities in him, which have secured their abiding confi- 
dence and affection, his classmates became aware of more than 



72 

twenty-five years ago : and every time they have seen him since, 
they have had their old impressions of him renewed. He is a 
true, a genial man. I think of him as one of the Nathanaels of 
the day, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. You all, I 
doubt not, have found him your friend. The young people, the 
children, have found him theirs. None of you love him the 
less for this twenty-five years experience of his pastoral care. I 
cannot doubt that next Wednesday week will be a most inter- 
esting day, both to him and to you. I pray that Heaven may 
smile upon the day, and upon the celebration : that new strength 
may be added to the tie that binds pastor and people together : 
and that it may grow still stronger and happier in the years to 
come. 

Yours very truly, 

Benj. Tappan. 
Mr. Benj. H. Smith, Chairman of Committee. 



[From the Rev. William Barrows, Reading .] 

Reading, Nov. 19, 1865. 
Mr. Benjamin H. Smith, Chairman, &c. 

Dear Sir: — It is a matter of much regret to me that I can 
not be with you, at the Quarter Century Celebration of Mr. 
Pike's settlement. I would like to congratulate yourselves and 
him, personally, on so joyful an occasion. 

It was my good fortune to have Mr. Pike as my pastor for a 
few months in the first year of his ministry, and the impressions 
he then made on me were very pleasant, and have proved last- 
ing. It was during my Sophomore year in College, in the 
winter of 1837—8 that I engaged to teach the public school in 
North Falmouth. A plump, fair-faced, earnest young man, 
"just from the Seminary," preached on the Sabbath after my 
arrival. Immediately after the morning service he came to me, 
and without introduction, made himself known, with a most earn- 
est and cordial manner, and with a laugh that I think he even 
yet sometimes indulges. We have been fast friends, and noth- 
ing else, ever since. It would weary you to tell of our many de- 
lightful walks on the shores of Buzzard's Bay, and our many 
social chats in his study, in regard to the classics, libraries, lit- 
erary societies, and authors. 

The sermons of Mr. Pike in those days were warm, lively 
and devout, with much of Scripture language, and a style sim- 
ple, direct, popular, and yet finished. I wondered he could do 
so much, and such writing, just from the Seminary, while his 
health was poor, and his eyes so weak that he was obliged to em- 



73 

ploy an amanuensis. It was not an ornate, pretending style, 
as of one who had studied more rhetoric than theology, yet it 
had something of the poetic withal. One of his hearers and 

church members, "Uncle S- ," as we all called him, thought 

him quite too literary and flowery. This man, a retired sea 
captain, intelligent in the doctrines, devout, and with most ex- 
alted and excluding ideas of God's sovereignty, used to make 
all fear and tremble when he prayed, by the way in which he 
expressed human sinfulness, the majesty of God, and the per- 
dition of the ungodly. 

For him, Mr. Pike's style was too flowery. Passing by his 
pastor's boarding place in the Spring of 1838, he found him set- 
ting out some roots. Finding that the roots were not plain and 
practical beets and carrots, but dahlias, he passed along, with 
the remark: "Flowers in the garden, flowers in the pulpit, 
flowers all round !" 

Mr. Pike had practical aims in his preaching, and sometimes 
in these, he was exceedingly powerful. He found the old and 
obsolete notion floating about the shores of that Bay that a true 
christian should be "willing to be damned." Taking St. Paul's 
words: "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ," 
etc., and cleaving the text from the dogma in question, he so set 
this notion forth in its true colors, that all did most strenuously 
affirm that they never held the doctrine that men should be 
willing to be damned, and even wondered who could have in- 
vented it. 

There were other "special sermons" of Mr. Pike's, upon which 
there is not time, in a letter, to comment, which awakened great 
interest in that region, and which made all the people think 
that he would sufficiently notice providential circumstances to 
make his pulpit sentiments fresh and forcible. 

The earnest manner of Mr. Pike as a preacher, and his evi- 
dent desire to do his people good, and his cordial ways among 
them, endeared him to them, and those yet living look back to 
his ministry among them as happy days. It was certainly a 
very pleasant winter to me, through his society and influence, 
and I am not surprised that the people of Rowley should be 
glad to keep him twenty-five years, and then rejoice aloud and 
publicly over the fact. 

I have alluded to Mr. Pike's weak eyes, as a trial, and yet I 
am inclined to think they were among his disguised mercies. 
By this, he was shut up from much reading of text books, note 
books and school theories, and left mostly for material to the 
Bible and his own thinking. He thus laid the foundation for an 
eminently biblical theology. Weak eyes might benefit some 
10 



74 

others of us, who now read too much that man has written, and 
think too little of what God has written. 

It is a rare pleasure, in these days, to see a pastor holding- on, 
and held on for twenty-five years in one place. I know not 
which of you to commend, pastor or people, but I think you 
really and justly praise each other. Your example gives me 
hope that we may yet have in Massachusetts what was once so 
eommon, but now fast growing obsolete, pastoral semi-centen- 
nials. May we live to see one in Rowley. The Lord bless you 
as people and pastor abundantly, and cause your mutual labors 
in Christ to bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and an hundred fold. 
Yours, very truly, 

W. Barrows. 



The following is from the pen of a young lady, whose long- 
absence from Rowley has not made her unmindful of its early 
memories, and who being necessarily detained from our servi- 
ces, sends these lines to one whom she is accustomed still to 
call her pastor, as an expression of her interest in his twenty- 
fifth anniversary. 

In thine early manhood's pride-, 
When the future all untried, 
With its pathways fair and wide,. 

Lay alluring to thy view, — 
Eager in its toils to share. 
And its wreaths to win and wear, 
Paused thy heart to breathe the prayer, 

" Lord, what wilt Thou have me do? " 

In the spirit's silence deep, 

When the earth was hushed in sleep, 

Came the answer, — "Feed my sheep," 

' If thou would" st my servant be ; — 
' And from all earth's rude alarms, 
' Safe from every thing that harms, 
'Shield my lambs within thine arms, 

' If indeed thou lovest me.' 

" O beloved Son of God, 

In the path thy feet have trod, 

Aided by thy staff and rod, 

Henceforth gladly I will tread,* 
Earth such honor ne'er conferred ;" — 
And when human hand and word 
Sealed the vow that Heaven had heard, 

Unseen hand was on thv head. 



75 



When the Master said to thee, 
"" Ask what I shall give to thee, 
Breathe the secret thought to me, 

In thy heart that lieth deep ; "— 
Earnestly that heart replied, 
" Wisdom grant, thy flock to guide, 
Where the living waters glide, 

0, Thou Shepherd of the sheep.'' 

Years, perchance, have left their trace 
On that youthful form and face, 
But thy rare and heavenly grace, 

Is untouched by earth's decay. 
For such light as on thee lies, 
Though discerned by mortal eyes, 
Falling from celestial skies, 

Brightens into "perfect day." 

Softly as the snow-flakes fall, 
Years that thou would' st not recall, 
Thy best hopes fulfilling all, 

On thy head come gently down ; 
And when nobly thou has"t striven, 
" Late rnay'st thou return to Heaven,' 
And to thee at last be given, 

An immortal glorious crown. 



Thursday, November 23, 



This was the last day of the feast. It was designed for that 
class of the people, whom Jesus so tenderly noticed when he 
was upon earth. The children of twelve years old and under, 
were to be made to feel that they had a share in this anniversary 
occasion, and that the share might be as distinct as possible, 
they were invited to spend the time between three and six 
o'clock, at the house of the pastor. They were ready at the 
hour. Sixty of them came to take the hand of him, whose 
voice they were to hear, inviting them to the great Shepherd, 
who said, " feed my lambs." 

They were allowed the free range of the house, and they 
took it, yet with a great care to do nothing that required cau- 
tion, or deserved blame. The little party was quite as orderly as 
the greater party of the previous evening, and both were order- 
ly enough. Sometimes they sang, reminding one of the touch- 
ing saying of the Saviour, " Out of the mouths of babes 
and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." Sometimes they 
played, making us think of that happy, peaceful, prophetic 
period, concerning which it was said, — " the streets of the city 
shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof." 
Then they went to the study, and were shown the place where 
the sermons were made, — the happy place in which the children 
were thought of, and prayed for, during the week, — and from 
whence their pastor went on the Sabbath, to talk to them and their 
friends, of any new feature of the kingdom of God, which the 
six days' toil may have brought to his notice. They gathered 
in the dining room, to partake of God's bounties, and were 
taught there, to look with their pastor, to him who said over 
the ravens, " God feedeth them," and reminded that they had a 
church and society, that they were to be its help and supporters, 



78 

that life was behind many of the fathers whose work was near- 
ly done, — but that life was before them, and that they might 
fill it with love to Christ, joy in each other, and toil for the 
world. Then they all drank from the goblets which their own 
love had prompted them to give us, and fed as they wished 
from the table of bounty, — and talked together, and with the 
pastor and his family, as though they meant to struggle that 
the glad promise we had of their future might be realized. It 
only remained to take us by the hand, and bid us "good night," 
and say with a beautiful childish simplicity, that they wished 
such a day as this might come often. 

Thus closed the appointed services. The whole passed with 
nothing to mar it. The pastoral bond had been strengthened 
by many happy influences. The good people of Rowley had 
added another to the many proofs that what they undertake to 
do, they do well. Heaven seemed to smile ; the future looked 
more welcome, and the prayer seemed likely to be answered 
with which we anticipated the occasion, that these festive days 
might open the way for many to join in that "new song" 
which will celebrate forever the union of the great Shepherd to 
the flock he has redeemed by his blood. The minute circum- 
stances of this happy memorial occasion, some of which will 
be of local, rather than general interest, are put into print, that 
the children of this, and distant generations in the retired town 
of Rowley, may understand that there were some examples of 
Puritan steadfastness, even beyond the middle of the nineteenth 
century, and that if the pastoral tie was not considered then to 
be as divine, sacred, and inviolable as the marriage contract, it 
was, by no means, thought to be so much a matter of mere hu- 
man arrangement and policy that it could be violated and de- 
stroyed for purposes of ambition, or because of the slighter 
discontents and troubles, to which every spiritual home is 
liable. 



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